-Behind the Curtain-
It was four minutes after noon and Ginny was still upstairs in her bedroom.
"Ginny you're going to miss the fire! Come down now!" called Mrs. Weasley up the stairs to her daughter. Hermione, Ron and Harry had already traveled to Hogwarts via the fireplace but Ginny had only realized at the last moment that she had forgotten her diary from Harry.
As the minutes were quickly counting down before the link between the Burrow and Professor McGonagall's office closed, Ginny was franticly ripping apart her bed in search for the missing diary.
"Thirty seconds Ginny! Come down now, and I'll send it to you by owl!" Ginny did not respond immediately for something green had just caught her eye.
"Mum, I'm coming!" she screamed as she shoved the velvet book into her knapsack and ran out the room, down the stairs and to the fireplace where her mother was holding a flower pot in one hand.
Ginny shoved her hand into the flowerpot and grabbed a pinch of flew powder. She then threw the powder inside the fireplace and watched as the flames quickly changed from red to green. She then ran into the flames, yelled out the word "Hogwarts" and held onto her bag tightly.
"Well Miss Weasley, we were afraid you wouldn't be joining us today." said Professor McGonagall as Ginny stepped out of the fireplace.
"Sorry Professor, I almost left a textbook behind," lied Ginny as she noticed the professor sitting behind her desk, paper in hand.
Minerva McGonagall nodded once and Ginny walked past the professor's desk and out the office door. Standing out side was Harry, holding his own bag with a smile.
"I thought you were going to miss it."
Ginny looked up and smiled back, "I almost did. Where's the couple?"
"Oh they headed straight for the hospital wing, that's where Hermione's parents are. But I think its best we give them some time alone, they've had a rough couple of days."
Ginny nodded in agreement and her and Harry slowly turned the corner and walked silently down the second floor corridor.
Because Christmas Holidays would not be over for another nine days, the Hogwarts castle seemed absolutely barren. There were only about half a dozen students whom had chosen to stay for the holidays, and they were currently all in their respective common rooms.
Harry and Ginny walked down the hall slowly, taking their time and enjoying the peacefulness of it all.
When they reached the large section of castle that was devoted to the shifting staircases, they could hear their footsteps echoing loudly around them, the higher they climbed the louder the echo.
"It's so quiet," whispered Ginny, for she felt like anything above a whisper was inappropriate, "It's kind of eerie."
"Really? You think so?" asked Harry as he stopped on the next step and threw his head back and yelled, "HELLO! ANY ONE AROUND?"
Ginny was a step higher and laughed as she looked down at Harry and listened to his voice echoing a million times off of the walls.
Harry glanced at Ginny and saw that she was smiling, and he felt his heartbeat quickly race. He grinned and then tiled his head back again, "COME OUT, COME OUT, WHERE EVER YOU ARE!"
Ginny laughed again, but suddenly gasped when she heard a crashing noise coming from the floor below.
Harry and Ginny stood frozen halfway up the staircase staring downwards, (Harry's voice echoing in the background), when they heard Filch's screams coming from the corridor below, "Peeves let me GO!"
"Not until you say sorry for hurting my feelings!" said Peeves in an annoyingly mocking voice.
"Peeves-I-have-to-catch-who-ever-is-yelling-" came Filch's voice from the corridor as he struggle to release himself from Peeves' grip.
Harry looked back up at Ginny and smiled in a mischievous, shocked expression and then he shoved his hand behind Ginny's back and ran with her up the staircase. They both held on tight to their bags as they ran up the flight of stairs and headed up another, just as Filch came around the corner of the corridor and spotted them.
"You! Come back here! You can't go yelling through the castle!"
Harry and Ginny laughed as they continued to run up the flight of stairs. When they hit the landing they turned and headed over to another staircase, but just as they set foot on the second step, the staircase began to shift.
"Oh no!" whispered Ginny as she and Harry grabbed each other and held on tight. They slowly climbed a few more steps and held onto the railing so not to fall five stories as the staircase detached itself and shifted, sidetracking them from the would be sixth floor to the fourth.
Harry looked over his shoulder and saw that Filch had seen the change in direction and had backtracked himself. Harry was sure Filch was heading to take one of the many shortcuts that he knew so well, and Harry paused to think for a moment…
"Hey, I've got an idea!" he said excitedly as he grabbed a hold of Ginny's hand and quickly ran down the stair case.
As they ran down the fourth floor corridor, they both knew that they didn't have to run from Filch, for they were sure that if they got caught, they wouldn't even receive detention for what they had done. But that wasn't the point.
It was exciting, the two of them holding hands and panting as they tore down the corridor, unsure of where to turn next. It was the simplest example of the kind of adventure that Harry lived for, and the kind that Ginny wanted so desperately…
Both of them giggled as they ran down the hallway, passing by dozens of classrooms to their right and windows to their left.
The fourth floor, like the rest of the castle, was completely bare and as they ran, the sound of their feet and their muffled laughter bounced off of the walls. They were half way down the hall when they reached the door leading to Professor Devout's Muggle Studies class. They stopped and listened for any sound of Filch.
With both hearts pounding, they listened… they were bent over; clutching their chests, and breathing deep… they looked at each other and smiled…
"Do you think we lost him?" asked Ginny as she swung her head to the side in an attempt to toss her hair out of her face. Harry watched as she did this and smiled. He opened his mouth to answer, but before he could Filch appeared at the end of the hallway.
"You two – stay where you are!" yelled Filch down the hall.
"Come on!" whispered Harry as he yet again grabbed a hold of Ginny's hand. They ran back the same way they had come, yet this time they stopped in front of a class room door, opened it quickly and ran inside.
They didn't bother to close the door behind them; they just ran to the back of the empty classroom, past desks and chairs, where another door stood partly open. They had only just made it threw the second door when they heard Filch entering the room.
"STOP!" yelled Filch in vain, but Harry and Ginny did not stop. They were now in another section of the fourth floor hallway and were running back towards the shifting staircases.
They reached the vast section of castle, but instead of heading up a flight of stairs, Harry ran around the corner, pulled Ginny in close, and slide behind a fifteen foot tall, velvet crimson curtain which was hanging next to a wall.
The space was tight, so tight that for them not to be spotted, Harry had his arms wrapped tightly around Ginny, her chest against his chest, their bodies pressed together.
Ginny pulled herself close to Harry, making sure that her body wasn't making the curtain behind her stick out in any odd fashion. She wrapped her arms around his waist and laid her head against his shoulder, as she tried not to breathe so heavy and noisily.
Within seconds they heard Filch on the other side of the curtain, and both Harry and Ginny smiled to themselves in excitement.
"Bloody kids! Where did they go?" they heard Filch mutter.
They stood in silence, nether daring to speak nor breath, as they waited and listened to Filch's pacing footsteps as he tried to decide which path to take.
Harry closed his eyes and prayed for something to save them and sure enough it came –
CRASH!
"What the hell-" they heard Filch say just before the maddening cackle of Peeve's laughter floated from the floor below.
"PEEVES IF YOU"VE GONE AND BROKEN ONE MORE THING-" yelled Filch from the other side of the curtain just before he hobbled as quickly as he could down the nearest flight of stairs and onto the third floor.
Harry and Ginny remained frozen together and listened carefully, making sure that Filch had left. And after a minute or two they were sure, but neither of them let go. They stood behind the velvet curtain, both bodies still pressed tightly together, although there was no real reason for it.
They waited for their breaths to slow, but they were both so aroused that they were still breathing deep…
Harry's arms were wrapped around Ginny, his hands just inches above her butt and he had the strongest desire to move them just a little bit lower…
Ginny was getting redder and redder in the face as she could feel her own body dancing with urges and impulses as she felt Harry's toned chest against her own. And when she tried to move her body a touch to the left, she suddenly felt the bulge in Harry's pants against her right thigh.
Neither said a word, although they were both thinking the same thing.
Ginny finally got some courage and slowly pulled her upper body away from Harry, so she could look up at him and in his eyes… it was amazing. Even in the crimson shade of the curtain hiding place, Harry's green eyes still sparkled and shone so brightly behind his glasses…
Harry stared at Ginny before him… the color of her blue, soft eyes… the way her red hair gently framed her face… he knew he had to say something for he didn't want to let go…
"I guess we lost him." said Harry, as he mentally rolled his eyes at what he had just said.
"Yeah… I think we did." replied Ginny as she silently prayed that something good was going to come of this.
Both of them stood together – speechless as both their bodies heated up with desire and lust…
Harry, without speaking, slowly let go of Ginny's waist, and as he did Ginny felt her heart fall in disappointment. She dropped her head and was slowly releasing her grip on him when she suddenly felt Harry's left hand cup the bottom of her chin.
With his fingers gently under her chin, Harry slowly lifted Ginny's face, and without moving her head she looked up at him. He gently pulled her face close to his...
They both closed their eyes just seconds before their lips gently touched, sending tingles of excitement and a sense of thrill through their bodies.
When their lips met, gentle and soft, they held them there together, in perfect unified bliss…
And then slowly they pulled their lips apart.
Ginny was sure it was over and was about to open her eyes when she felt Harry's lips again, only harder and more passionate.
She grabbed a hold of him tightly as she stood up on the tips of her toes, and his hands quickly found their way back to her waist. A moment after, they both opened their lips a touch and gently rubbed the tips of their tongues together…
They did that for a while, enjoying it for all it was worth: the gentle teasings of a first kiss. And just when Ginny opened her lips wider, she lost her footing and – CRASH!
It a matter of moments Ginny had tripped over Harry's foot, fallen backwards while still holding onto him and had pulled the crimson curtain down with a loud clang that rang threw the castle.
Harry and Ginny lay tangled up in the curtain, their butts, legs and arms sore from the fall, and then they looked at each other and laughed.
"PEEVES I SWEAR I'LL GET YOU THIS TIME!" they heard Filch yell from somewhere in the castle.
Harry got up, as quickly as he could and stuck a hand out to Ginny. She embarrassedly laughed and grabbed his hand.
"Should we run for it?" asked Harry in a low seductive voice as he pulled Ginny in close to him and scanned her face with his eyes.
Ginny's eyes did the same, stopping at his lips which she was oh-so-tempted to kiss, but before she could do anything of the sort, Harry grinned and grabbed her hand.
They ran quickly, up the staircases to the sixth floor and then down one of the corridors that took them closer to the Gryffindor common room. The whole way there they said nothing, but Harry continued to look over his shoulder every now and then to give Ginny a wide grin; Ginny blushed back.
They were heading towards the Fat Lady portrait, hand in hand and thinking that nothing could go wrong when -
"Harry!" exclaimed Luna as she ran down the adjoining hallway. She had a huge smile on her face and when Harry saw her, his grip on Ginny's hand loosened completely.
Ginny's hand fell to her side as she watched Luna run up to Harry, throw her arms around him and kiss him passionately on the lips – and he didn't pull away.
Was she seeing things? Was this possible?
Here Harry was making out with Luna when only moments before he had been holding her hand…
Sure, it may have only been one kiss, but it irritated Ginny and she patiently waited for them to separate.
When they did, Luna quickly took notice of Ginny and let go of Harry. "Oh - hello Ginny. How was your Christmas?" asked Luna earnestly.
Ginny held back the first comment that came to mind and opted for the second, "Good. Interesting…"
Harry was watching on as the two girls spoke. He was at a loss for words and was taken aback by the sudden turn of events.
Ginny looked at Harry and knew that he was uncomfortable, and so she decided that she should let him be with Luna in private. After all, it's hard to break up with someone when your future girlfriend is present.
"I'm just going to go inside," said Ginny and added a small smile to be polite. She slowly turned to face the Fat Lady, said the password and walked inside.
But instead of going straight into the common room, Ginny's curiosity had her listening at the door.
She didn't know why she wanted to hear the break up, it did seem rather childish to her, but she pressed her ear against the portrait anyways and listened hard.
She could hear what sounded like kissing – but that couldn't be right.
She waited for the sloping sounds to stop, and when they did, she heard Luna say, "Oh Harry, I missed you so much! It was so horribly boring here without you, mind you I did find out something interesting!"
"Really, what's that?" asked Harry, no longer sounding so embarrassed.
"Did you know that Hogwarts is infested with Walrusus Cornfellows?" asked Luna in amazement. Ginny rolled her eyes.
"Really? What are they?" asked Harry, sounding truly interested.
Ginny pulled her head away from the door, what was going on? Why hadn't he broken things off with her yet? Why was he acting as though nothing had happened?
Ginny shook her head, she was convinced that the break up was only moments away. But when she placed her ear to the door again, the things she heard next made her anger rise,
"So, do you want to see them?" asked Luna. "They come out after dark, so it would be best if you met me at nine o'clock in the astronomy tower." Ginny noticed a hint of seduction in her voice.
"Nine o'clock… sure." Said Harry as Ginny's heart did a somersault in her chest and her body quickly snapped away from the door.
What the?
But before she could think about it any more, she heard foot steps on the other side of the portrait. Ginny made a mad dash to her left and hid behind one of the couches in the empty common room just as Harry walked in.
She peered around the couch and watched him.
He stood in the middle of the common room, looking as though he was deep in thought. She watched as he slowly placed his hands on his hips and tilted his head towards the ceiling. He muttered a few curse words to himself and then he dropped his head and jogged angrily towards the spiral steps and up to his dormitory.
Ginny stayed crouched behind the sofa for some time. What had just happened?
Did they really kiss behind the curtain? Or was that all a dream?
She thought he had liked it. After all, he had initiated the kiss in the first place! And because of what she had felt on her leg, she knew that he had been turned on by it…
But why hadn't he broken things off with Luna?
Maybe he doesn't like you enough to dump her… maybe you were just a fling…
The second this theory crossed her mind, it stuck there - poking and prodding at her; coxing the evil up from within her…
"So that's the way he wants it, huh?" muttered Ginny to herself as she slowly stood up from behind the couch.
And with a mind spinning with anger and embarrassment, Ginny headed upstairs to her empty dormitory, with a plan in mind…