Harry's heart raced against his rib cage as his fingers brushed against Ginny's. He could not believe this had happened. They were alone now... just the four of them, Harry, Ginny, Ron and Hermione. Hermione lay on a bed pushed up next to Ron's. The bedside cabinet, full of birthday presents, had been moved to the other side of Ron's bed. She lay on her back with her head tilted to the side so that she could watch Ron sleeping, waiting for him to wake up or mumble something. A little way off were too more beds pushed up close for Harry and Ginny when they eventually got tired.

Harry and Ginny sat at the end of Ron's bed on a pair of chairs pushed close together so that the arm rests were flush. Their arms lay side by side on those armrests and Harry's mouth dried out every time her hand brushed his. He was in such an awkward position here, attached to his best friend's sister, who had a boyfriend, and who he incidentally fancied the pants off of... in fact he was sort of in the same boat as Hermione... except that Ginny was not unconscious.

Ginny shifted and fidgeted again... If only he was not connected to someone whose touch made his heart race, or whose scent made him stare into space dreamily. He hated when he did that, he felt like a complete idiot.

Ginny wiggled in her seat.

"You alright?" he asked dryly, "or did the twins leave itching powder in your knickers before they left."

Instead of a witty scathing comment like he was expecting he received a look from the corner of Ginny's eye... a slightly petrified look... "er... actually... I quite need the toilet..."

Harry's mouth started to drop a little before he caught it. "Oh right..." he said with deceptive calmness. "So..."

"Hmm."

Harry nodded slowly like someone had just thrown him and interesting idea. He tried to speak quickly, as though the faster he spoke the less uncomfortable this conversation would be. "And er... You can't hold–"

"Nope –"

"Ok."

They both nodded and fidgeted nervously for a minute in an attempt to work up some motivation.

"So how are we going to –"

"I don't kno–"

"Right."

They avoided each other's eye and tapped their feet. Time seemed to drag unendingly. Harry took a deep breath and slowly let it out with puffed cheeks.



Ginny suddenly shot to her feet dragging Harry up with her.

"I'm sorry I've got to go." She hauled him quickly across the polished floor, out of the hospital wing and along the corridor to the nearest girls' toilets.

"Oh nooo..." moaned Harry when he realised what toilet it was, "please... surely you can hold on to the next toilet... just not this one... Myrtle's the last person we want to see us like this."

"I don't care I can't wait," cried Ginny as she dragged him through the door. He resisted the whole way across the shiny floor tiles but made as little noise as possible in the hope that Myrtle would not hear them. "Right you stand here," Ginny commanded pushing him against the column between cubicles. "Close your eyes and... and... plug your ears with something." Then she entered the cubicle. No sign of Myrtle... maybe she wasn't here.

Harry squeezed his eyes shut and stuck his fingers in his ears. Ginny yanked on the handcuffs which pulled Harry's left hand away from his ear. He kept his eyes tightly shut. "I can't get close enough... you're going to have to stick your arm out behind you."

"But how am I going to not listen without my ears plugged with my fingers?"

"I don't care I just need to go or I'll wet myself... hum or something." He could feel her jiggling around; it was making his arm bounce... He plugged his right index finger into his left ear because it was closest to Ginny and then hummed an awful rendition of baa baa black sheep... It didn't help... in fact... standing there made him want the toilet.

He had no idea how long he hummed baa baa black sheep for before Ginny came out of the toilet. Harry peeked out of the corner of his eye and then let his hand fall... They both stood staring at the cubicles opposite in an embarrassed silence.

"We must never... ever speak of that," said Ginny, "ever!"

Harry nodded. "Ok... just as long as we don't talk about what's going to happen next."

Ginny finally looked at him. "What's going to happen next?" she asked worriedly.

He looked down at her and in a tone normally reserved for the eve of battles he said, "I'm going to use the toilet!"

They swapped places. Things weren't going to badly... it looked like it was going to be a happy ending... embarrassing to be sure... but happy... and then...

"But you're a boy!"

"OH MERLIN!" Harry yelled. Moaning Myrtle's head was poking over the edge of the cubicle. "Oh dear Merlin. Myrtle go away. Go away... Please... Oh Merlin!" Harry shuffled to the side of the pan so that his back was to her, but he inadvertently pulled Ginny closer, into the entrance of the toilet. "DON'T OPEN YOUR EYES!" he yelled, his voice was full of panic. "For the love of – DON'T OPEN THEM."



Myrtle giggled evilly. "Oh what fun I'll have telling all the other ghosts about this," she squealed.

"No please, Myrtle you can't tell anyone. Not even the ghosts... please."

Thankfully he finished then, flushed the toilet and ran out of the cubicle.

A short time later two pairs of horrified eyes stared at the hospital wing floor from a pair of chairs at the end of the bed... They didn't say a word to each other.

"It surely couldn't have been that bad," said Hermione. She got no response. She frowned worriedly... "Just what happened?" she asked warily.

Harry and Ginny hesitantly caught each other's eye and then glanced away.

"We promised to never mention... it... again," said Ginny quietly. "And with good reason."

Harry laughed a bitter laugh that might have been misconstrued as a sigh... or a whine. Ginny made a murmur of agreement and then laughed too. Before they knew it the two of them we're in gales of hysterical laughter, sunk in their chairs until they were almost horizontal but unable to right themselves.

"Oh dear," said Hermione.

Harry dragged Ginny away and they returned five minutes later and put a pair of ear plugs next to Hermione on her bed. They burst out laughing again. "Trust me," Harry gasped. "You're going to need them."

That night was a restless one. In transfigured pyjamas they lay on beds side by side but could not get comfortable. Any time that one of them rolled over or moved it would jerk the other into wakefulness. Ginny could not fall asleep on her back unless she was really tired, but she was uncomfortable when she lay on either side because her arm had to remain in the same position. Really, Harry decided at about four o'clock in the morning, it was all Ginny's fault that he could not sleep.

She was lying away from him at the moment curled up with her right arm awkwardly twisted behind her back, he didn't think she was asleep but he couldn't really tell. Her hair fell across the pillow like a fan, he wanted to reach out and touch it, he always did, and he chastised himself... she had a boyfriend... and was Ron's sister, and she probably was not asleep, but maybe if she was she would never know, he almost moved his hand before he got a hold of himself.

Ginny suddenly rolled over scowling. "Would you stop sighing," she snapped in a whisper. Her hair fell across her face and she snatched it back angrily. "You've been doing it all night, and it's stopping me getting to sleep."

"Oh I'm sorry, I'm stopping you getting to sleep? Well maybe I'm sighing in resignation, because I know I'm never going to get any sleep because you keep squirming every two seconds!" The thought of Ginny squirming closer to him shot through his mind and he was glad it was too dark to see him blush.

She growled like a cat. Then suddenly sniggered...



"What?" asked Harry feeling like he was about to fall into a trap.

"I was about to tell you to sod off," she giggled. "Then realised you couldn't."

Harry stared bemused. "How is that funny?"

"I don't know," Ginny gasped for breath, "I don't know." But she couldn't stop laughing, and Harry could not help but join in... Ginny had an incredible laugh, it made his fingers tingle.

An hour later they were sniping at each other again. They got no more sleep that night and lay watching the line of light descend the wall as the morning dawned.

"So what you plan on doing today?" asked Ginny sarcastically, she had dark crescents under her eyes.

Harry smiled. "Dunno, guess I'll do whatever you're doing if you don't mind too much."

"Really? Wow Harry you're such a gentleman." She mocked. "fancy spending the day together...?"

"What a good idea Ginny, I'd love nothing more than to spend the day with you," he said it playfully, but really it was the dead truth, there was nothing he would prefer to do.

Breakfast was a quiet affair in the hospital wing. Harry and Ginny sat side by side at a little table that Madam Pomfrey had provided; they struggled at first, pulling one way and then the other. They settled for cutting up all of one person's food and then cutting up all of the others and then eating their bacon and eggs with a fork in the free hand. Hermione had to drag Ron's arm everywhere. But at least there was no resistance to her tugs.

Harry set his fork down and leant back in his chair, pushing it back onto two legs and hooking his knees under the edge of the table to stop him falling backwards.

"Urgh, what the-?" Harry jumped at the sound of Ron's groggy voice. His knees unhooked from the table and suddenly there was nothing holding him up. He flailed his arms for something to hold him up but missed. His legs shot into the air and knocked the table flying. There was a yank at his arm and then with a crash he hit the ground on his back. A grunt was ejected from his lungs as Ginny and her chair slammed down on his chest.

"Urgh," Harry and Ginny both groaned.

"Harry?" Ron said thickly. His eyes were only half open and his head seemed wobbly. "Why are you lying on the floor, handcuffed, to my sister?"

"What on Earth?" cried Madam Pomfrey who had shot out of her office at the sound of the crash. "Mr Weasley... You're awake..." She hurried passed Harry and Ginny who were still lying together on the floor, and began to prod and poke with her wand. Ron ignored her.

"Hermione?" his voice wavered.



"...I'm here Ron." Hermione rolled onto her side on her bed so that she faced him. Ginny slowly rolled off of Harry and sat on the floor next to him. Harry was still panting, but he did not know whether it was through lack of breath or because Ginny's body had been pressed so firmly against his own. Harry sat up next to her.

Ron lifted his wobbly right hand and Hermione's rose with it. Ron frowned; his eyes were still only half open. "Why are we handcuffed to each other?" he asked. "Is this why we're in the hospital wing?"

"No Mr Weasley that is not why you are here," interrupted Madam Pomfrey. "In fact, you were poisoned."

"Poisoned?"

"You took a drink of mulled mead and it had poison in it... nobody knows why there was poison in it, but everyone is looking into it."

Ron scrunched up his face in confusion. "But what was I doing drinking mead?"

Madam Pomfrey stopped whatever she had been doing with her wand and looked across Ron to Hermione. "I'll let you explain things to him shall I?" Hermione nodded. "Good. Here drink this now, and drink this one in two hours. I'll come and check on you then." She moved to put a small glass vial on the cabinet by the bed but found it covered with the presents Harry had brought from the dormitory. She leaned over Ron and handed it to Hermione instead. "Two hours," she reminded and then turned from Ron's bed and stopped as she started to walk away. "Why on earth are you two on the floor? You set things straight before I come back or I'll put you to something useful while you're here." She bustled away importantly.

Harry, Ginny and Hermione spent a while explaining to Ron what had happened. He did not remember anything from his birthday. Not even the morning before he'd been poisoned.

The morning dragged. Madam Pomfrey came back twice from her office to check on Ron and have him drink more potions

The rest of the day was boring and frustrating. Having not slept a lot the night before, Harry and Ginny were irritable and waspish so that they went from joking to throwing insults in seconds. Ron slept for most of the day, Hermione was reading ahead a week just in case, and Professor Flitwick came by for an hour to try to free them of the handcuffs, and the rash around Harry's wrist after Flitwick gave up did nothing to ease his mood.

"Why am I always the guinea pig?" he complained.

In the late afternoon Professor Dumbledore came to see them. "I was very much hoping that you would be free of your predicament by this time," he said gravely. "However, quite obviously you are not."

"You show mastery in the art of deduction," Harry commented, Dumbledore shared a laugh with them.

"Quite... I've have decided that you should accompany Ginny to her lessons, Harry. It is not so pivotal that you turn up to every lesson at your stage of schooling, but with OWL's nearing, it is for you Ginny. I 

have arranged with all of the professors to have sixth year work sent here every evening so that you, Hermione, and Ron do not fall too far behind. Does any of this sound unreasonable to any of you?"

"No sir," replied Hermione.

"Good, then I will leave you to your peace." He spoke then only to Harry. "I will wait until this situation has passed before I send you another note, and your homework can wait until you are free, I'm sure you understand. Good evening." Dumbledore politely withdrew.

A/N: I've had an excellent responce from this. I tried to respond to everyone who reviewed and would just like to say thank you to those who i couldn't respond to.