Sorry for the lateness, but FFN was being difficult again. I already have the next chapter written, although I'm not sure when I'll have it up as it's still in my notebook. Things will get pretty interesting in the upcoming chapters...

On to the latest chapter...

Whipped

After saying the password ("Reticule"), Harry entered the common room to find it largely empty except for a few students who were either studying or taking a quick nap on one of the couches.

Ginny had seen him come in, and invited him over to where she was seated on one of the two-seater couches. She smiled at him as he sat down next to her, resigned to playing his part in the ruse.

Clearly, Ginny had no reservations about making her intentions known toward Harry. She had, none too subtly, placed her hand on his thigh, and began slowly riding it up until Harry started to shift uncomfortably.

"Uh, Ginny. What do you think you're doing?" He started, grabbing her hand as he did so.

She only shrugged and smiled pleasantly at him, "Just having some fun. Surely you wouldn't mind--being single and all?"

"Ginny," Harry knew he had to go about this the right way or the consequences could be unfavorable, "What about Neville? I may be single, but you aren't…at least what I last heard."

She laughed at his words, "Yeah right. Neville? He's not really my boyfriend. It's all simply a silly misunderstanding. It's always been you that I've wanted."

"If you truly feel that way about him, you should just tell him that already. Neville's a good friend of mine, Ginny, and he shouldn't be treated like this."

"Oh you and your noble ways. I'm tired of talking. Why don't we do something else?"

And she suddenly had her lips on his. Harry was so shocked at this new development that he let her tongue invade his mouth. This was wrong. Very, very wrong.

He tried to push her away, but she had a firm grip on him. She ran both her hands into his messy black hair, and started moaning with pleasure as she continued kissing him. Harry cringed mentally. It sounded terribly fake and overdone.

"Ginny…Ginny…there are people here," Harry breathed out, trying to get her to stop.

She just smiled in reply, "It's always nice to have a captive audience."

"Seriously, Ginny…I'm not big on public displays of affection." He continued, doing his best to keep the frustration out of his voice.

She laughed, "Terry Boot took away points from our house due to inappropriate behavior by you and your previous girlfriend,"

It was all too clear that Ginny was supremely uncomfortable with the subject of Hermione. Harry wasn't really surprised. After all, Ginny did resort to a love potion to get what she wanted.

"That was different. You're not my girlfriend." Ginny gave him an annoyed look and Harry quickly added, "Not yet, at least. Why don't we try getting to know each other a bit better before we start a serious relationship?"

Ginny grinned, "I like the sound of that."

Before either of them could say anything else, Ron had appeared before them looking as if he were waiting for something.

Ginny noticed him first, and paled. Harry looked anywhere but at him.

"Hey Ron…what brings you here?" Ginny asked. Harry wasn't in the mood to talk to Ron honestly.

Ron shook his head, and grabbed Ginny's arm, "I think you need to go, Ginny."

He then pulled his sister up off of the couch, and pushed her in the direction of the stairs up to the dorms.

"Fine. I'm leaving. And, by the way, I could so tell that Howler was from Fred and George. They should know that they didn't do a very good job."

Ron rolled his eyes, clearly impatient, "Yeah, whatever. Just go away."

Ginny glared at her brother and stomped all the way up the stairs.

Ron sat down next to Harry and said, "Well?"

Harry sighed, "Well, what?"

"Will you tell me what is going on with you and Hermione?"

"No, people may overhear." He hissed, looking around the common room to make sure no one was listening in on their conversation.

Ron threw up his hands, "Alright, fine. But I'll have you know that in three days' time, I want to know what's up. Or you know what."

Harry nodded. "That takes care of the time limit question," He thought idly.

Suddenly Ron grinned a bit too mischievously, "That will be enough time for you and Hermione to come up with something?"

Harry gave him a confused look, "Hermione won't talk to me, Ron. You know that. When you catch Hermione later today, you could tell her what you told me. I don't want to try my luck with talking with her. Especially today."

"Uh huh. You may be famous, Harry, but you're no actor. I could tell even in our first year that you had a soft spot for her. You're telling me that you'd rather throw that away because of one fight? Come on now."

Harry glared at Ron. When did he become so perceptive?

"We've been having trouble for a while now. It's none of your business," He said quietly.

"If you want that to be your story, then fine by me. I need to go meet up with Luna anyway. Three days, remember."

And with that last reminder, he went up the stairs to the 7th year boys' dorm. A few minutes later, Ron came back down, Harry looking on in mild amusement.

He had a small bunch of white and blue flowers in his hand. His book bag looked a bit heavier also.

As Ron passed by him, Harry briefly caught a whiff of a vanilla scent that most likely came from the flowers.

"Luna sure has him whipped," Harry mused as he started to work on his Potions assignment.

He fervently hoped that Ginny would be more subtle about how she flirted with him.

The portrait hole closed behind Ron.