AN- Ok, so sorry it took me an extra day to update, but on the Brightside, this chapter is a bit longer than the others. I hope you guys like this chapter, and I know some people might think that a certain event happened too fast, but let me assure you, Happy-ever afters are not gonna be that easy to come by for a few certain people. I don't own the song Speechless, by THE VERONICAS and I'm not making any money off of using it or JK's fab characters!!!

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SPEECHLESS

You leave me speechless

When you talk to me

You leave me breathless

The way you look at me

You manage to disarm me

My soul is shining through

I can't help but surrender

Oh no

My everything to you.

Ginny Weasley had often been jealous when other girls even so much as looked at Harry. He was the Chosen one, after all, the boy who lived. It was no wonder that girls wanted him, it was to be expected. In addition, Ginny reminded herself, she was the one Harry had chosen. Not one of the other girls, her.

So why did Malandra have the ability to make her so envious? Malandra was a pretty girl yes, but it was not as though she were a model. She was intelligent, true, but Harry--though he was smart-- never seemed to be particularly interested in academic conversations. She was nice, indeed, but then again so was Ginny. So the question remained, what was it about Malandra that made Ginny Green-eyed with envy?

The answer was disturbing, because the truth was; Ginny could not determine one thing about Malandra that would cause her to believe that Harry had anything other then a friendly interest in her. Nothing except for the feeling, she had whenever she saw Harry and Malandra together. Call it women's intuition, call it paranoia, whatever it was, it made Ginny feel extremely uneasy. The fact that Harry and Mal spent so much time alone whispering to each other did nothing to ease her mind.

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Malandra, meanwhile, was wresting with her own mixture of emotions. Any romance between her and Harry was impossible for so many different reasons. She was from the future, any relationship between the two of the could do Merlin knows how much damage to the timeline. Not that Harry is interested in you anyway. She reminded herself. And even if he was, there is the fact that one of the people he loathes most on earth is your father. This was another fact that she could not deny; even though Harry and she were friends, his distaste for Snape was obvious.

Not to even mention the fact he is your mother's best friend. The last part was something she had yet to deal with. No one in this time had any idea as to who her parents were and she intended to keep it that way.

She had enough to deal with because people believed she was Dumbledore's niece. Not a day went by when, after class, a student didn't come up to her to ask, "Can we please have an extra Hogsmeade weekend?" or "Would it be possible for your uncle to postpone exams for an extra week." If that was the stigma attached to being the headmaster's niece, she could only imagine what she would have to endure if people knew she was the daughter of Hogwarts's most loathsome professor and prized student!

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Time passed quickly in those last few weeks of school; students began to prepare for exams, plan were made for summer holiday, and Harry, Malandra, Dumbledore, and yes, Snape, waited in a twisted anticipation for the death-eater raid that they knew was fast approaching.

Because of Malandra, they knew that the horcrux that were originally going to go after the night the death-eaters attacked the castle was a fake. They also knew how Draco planned to smuggle the death-eaters into the castle. Now, the task was what to do with the information? Did they continue with the plan to have Severus kill Dumbledore? Did they prepare the caste for attack or let the death-eaters believe they had taken them unaware? What did they do, what could they do? These were the questions that haunted all their minds at night.

Was it any wonder then that at times they all found it hard to sleep? That, far from having the same pleasant dreams as their peers, they were tormented by haunting, horrifying dreams, and that was when they managed to sleep. Often, their nights were plagued with insomnia leading to blurry eyes and incidences of falling asleep in inappropriate places. Friends and colleagues questioned them often as to what was the matter, Ron and Hermione even held Harry "Hostage" one day during lunch trying to discover what was wrong with him, but he blew them off saying he had simply been having bad dreams. When Hermione questioned Malandra, her excuse was that she had been up late studying for exams. When Mcgonagal asked Albus if he was alright he replied that his hand had been bothering him. As for Severus, well, this was one of those moments when he was glad he did not have any friends because if some one hovered over him like Minerva did Albus, he would have to Avada Kadavra them, it was that simple.

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Secrets are notoriously bad for relationships: they lead to anger, they lead to yelling--and worse-- silent treatments, they lead to suspicious thoughts, and that lead to confrontations. Which is exactly what happened one warm Saturday morning approximently one week after Malandra arrived.

She had slept-in that morning as she normally did. Old habits die hard. She was not surprised to see that the girl's dorm was empty, most of the girls were out enjoying the sun-filled day of freedom. What she was surprised to see, however, was Ginny sitting down in the common room-- alone.

"Hello Ginny." she said cautiously when she saw the red head staring at the fire. She had spent as little time as possible with Ginny since she had discovered that Ginny really did not care for her. So far she had managed to avoid spending anytime alone with her, until now.

Ginny didn't even look at her, she just stared forward silently. "Is everything alright?" Malandra asked. Ginny gazed into the flames for along moment as though she could divine an answer form them. Finally, she spoke.

"You like him don't you?" She asked. There was no need for Malandra to ask who, she knew. Harry. "He's a good friend." She said choosing her words carefully. "but…."

Ginny turned to face her. "That's it." Ginny said, 'thaty's the problem, the "But." She sighed. "I've been in love with Harry for years." She said softly. "I never thought I would ever get the chance to actually be with him." She smiled sadly. "And then, just a few weeks ago, he kissed me, and we've been as happy as we can be with the way things are right now. Then, you came." Malandra opened her mouth to speak but Ginny held up her hand to silence her.

"I'm not blaming you." Ginny said, "I know that you haven't lead Harry on or anything and I know that nothing has happened between the two of you." Yet. She mentally added. "So logically I have nothing to worry about, right?" She didn't wait for Malandra to respond. "Of course I don't. I have nothing to back up my fears." she sighed. "Nothing except the way Harry is around you."

Malandra sat down beside her. "Way he is around me I…I don't understand." Ginny smiled ruefully. "I notice how he looks at you, how he is around you, more relaxed more… himself. It's as though he feels he doesn't have to act a certain way around you, like he can just be… Harry." Ginny was silent for a moment before continuing. "He acts like you are the only one who understands him. Whenever something is bothering him, he just looks at you and suddenly, he's alright again."

Malandra could not believe this. Ginny though Harry was interested in her! Oh no! "Ginny, really, it's not what you think, Harry and I do spend a lot of time with each other, yes, and it might appear that Harry has a more than friendly interest in me but it's not--"

Ginny interrupted. "I've known Harry a bit longer than you have. I know how he acts when he has a crush on a girl, and trust me, he's got it bad for you." A few tears were begging to form behind her eyes. "You should be thrilled." she said, "I've seen the way you look at him; you'll have you chance now.' Malandra looked at her in alarm. "Ginny," She asked, "You didn't…" Her voice trailed off. Ginny bit her lower lip. "If you're asking if I broke up with Harry than the answer is yes."

"Oh no, Ginny, you've made a terrible mistake.' Malandra cried. "Yes, I may have a had a bit of a crush on Harry but he would never in a million years feel the same way about you, he loves you he--" Ginny interrupted again, it was as though she had ignored everything Malandra had said.

"He's out on the Quidditch pitch." She said, "I'll expect that he want to talk to you." With that Ginny went up to the dorm. Malandra debated on whether or not to follow her, but eventually decided to try to talk to Harry instead. Perhapse he could talk some sense into Ginny.

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She found him on the pitch, just as Ginny said she would. He was staring at the sky looking, not sad, exactly, but mystified by the sudden change.

Malandra walked up behind him. "Hey." she said, "are you alright?" he turned around. "You heard, huh?" She nodded. "Ginny told me."

He sighed. "I just don't get it." He said. "I though she was happy, that she wanted to be with me and now…" his voiced trailed off. "What did I do wrong?" he asked.

Malandra's heart was breaking for him. "Oh Harry,' she said, "You didn't do anything wrong, in fact, this is all my fault." He looked at her, perplexed. "Your fault, how?" Malandra sighed. "Ginny seems to think that you and I have…… romantic feeling towards each other." She sighed. "in fact, Ginny seems to believe that you are… in love with me."

She babbled on for a few more moments unaware that Harry was no longer paying close attention to her words but was, in fact, studying her face in a way he never had before.

He had never noticed the way her nose twitched when she was thinking about something, never saw the way her eyes--so very like her father's-- flashed when she was excited over something, had never noticed how truly beautiful she really was.

Malandra, equally oblivious to what was going on around her, did not notice when Harry began to completely block out every word she was saying and start to simply stare at her. Therefore, it came as quite a shock to her when Harry's lips met hers in a shy, sweet, simple, loving absolutely perfect first kiss. And for once in her life, Malandra Snape was speechless.