A/N: Thanks for reviews/favorites/alerts! It makes me feel special. Don't forget to review!

Disclaimer: If I owned Harry Potter, certain characters wouldn't be dead.

Harry jumped back as the card deck exploded. Ginny was beating him at Exploding Snap. By a lot. Just then, a gush of Hogwarts students pushed through the portrait hole.

"Hi Harry!" squealed Hermione as she engulfed him in a giant hug. "We brought you back some butterbeer! Oh, and some for Ginny too!" She grinned at Ginny and went to go hug her as well.

Ron shook his hair out of his eyes. "Harry, you wouldn't believe how great some of the stuff at Zonko's is! They have these teacups that bite your nose, and hats that transform into shields, and-" he stopped, once again painfully aware of his mistake.

Harry grinned. "It's alright, mate! What else was there?"

Ron sighed in relief. "Well, they also have these imitation Snitches so Seekers can practice all the time!"

Harry gave Ron his full attention. "Seriously? I have to go! Tell me more!"

Ginny rolled her eyes. Boys were so weird sometimes.

"Hey! Ginny!"

Ginny turned to look at her friend, Kalyn, who was in her third year at Hogwarts. "Oh, hey, Kalyn! How was Hogsmeade?"

Kalyn rolled her eyes. "Great. I got you these from Honeydukes." She handed Ginny a good-sized bag of assorted sweets. "Enough small talk. Let's get down to business, agreed?"

Ginny giggled and nodded. Kalyn was always so straightforward.

As soon as the girls plopped down on Ginny's four-poster, Kalyn began the interrogation. "You were playing Exploding Snap with Harry Potter. HARRY. POTTER. Care to explain who this happened?" She was smiling hugely.

"Well…first of all, thanks for the sweets…" Ginny began.

"HURRY IT UP I'M ANTSY!" Kalyn screeched.

Ginny laughed again. "Okay. So, I was walking down to the lake when we ran into each other. Literally." Ginny rolled her eyes. "I'm such a klutz. Anyways, we had a race to the common room. I won-"

"Suuuure you did," Kalyn interrupted rudely. She fixed her blond ponytail. Ginny just glared at her. "OH, sorry. Please, continue."

"WELL," Ginny huffed. She detested interruptions when she was trying to tell a story. "We just…you know…hung out!"

Kalyn was practically beside herself with excitement. "OH MY GOD, GINNY! HE SOOOO LIKES YOU!"

The redhead's face twisted into one of confusion. "How the hell do you get that? We only spent a day together!"

Kalyn smirked as she lazily made a feather drift around the room. She let it flutter down onto Ginny's head. "Would he spend a day with-oh, what's that girl's name-Romilda Vane? Or should I say, Romilda VAIN? That girl is so obsessed with herself it's almost insanity. Did you see that she sent herself roses?"

"SERIOUSLY?" Ginny screamed, proceeding to collapse in a fit of laughter. Once she had wiped the tears from her eyes and was breathing properly again, she continued to speak. "And she doesn't count. She's so stupid, he probably doesn't even know she exists. I don't like her at all. She tripped me in the hall the other day."

While the girls chattered, the Gryffindors were winding down quite a bit. Most of the younger ones had retired to their dormitories. Harry yawned. "I'm turning in for the night," he said drowsily.

"Good-yaaawn-idea, Harry. I'm going to bed too," Dean muttered. The rest of the third-year boys nodded. They trudged upstairs and climbed into their beds. "Night, mates," Ron said before slipping off into sleep.

"Night," the rest of them said in varying states of sleepiness. Harry yawned once more and felt the tug of sleep pull him under.

The cold voice screamed at the girl. She was young, she couldn't be more than twelve or thirteen. "Where is your hero now? I've got you this time!"

The girl kicked. "NO! NO, PLEASE! HARRY! HARRY, HELP ME!"

"Shut up, stupid girl. There is no one to save you now! Sectumsempra!" Harry had never heard that curse before. Suddenly, giant cuts appeared all over the girl's body. She screamed in agony. Harry tried to scream, to move, but he couldn't. He was trapped watching her pain. He tried to call out to her again, but no sound came out. Tears streamed down his face. He was helpless.

Harry rolled over. "No-please stop-let her go-take me instead…" he was still crying. Then, suddenly, he awoke. He sat up and rubbed his eyes. "Oh God…" he shuddered.

A timid voice came from across the room. "Harry? A-are you okay?"

Harry put his glasses in front of his eyes and pushed them up his nose. "Neville? Why are you awake?"

"Insomniac," Neville said. "Ever since-" his eyes brimmed with tears. "Well, we don't have to t-talk about that. What happened? It seemed really rough."

"I-you shouldn't have to deal with my problems," Harry mumbled. Truth be told, he didn't want advice from anyone, let alone Neville.

"Harry, you can tell me. It's not like I could tell anyone anyways."

Harry considered this. It was true, Neville didn't have a lot of friends. In fact, he had a lot of enemies. Memories of Slytherins yelling insults at the poor fatty crossed Harry's mind. He sighed. "Well, there was this-girl. And, well…."

Neville was listening intently. "Go on," he said kindly.

"Well, Voldemort had her."

Neville nodded. "Was he hurting her?"

"Yeah," Harry said. "He used this weird curse on her."

"I'm so sorry. Do you know this girl personally?"

Harry mulled it over. "I…I think I do. I'm not certain."

"What did she look like?" asked Neville.

"Erm…brown eyes. Red hair."

"Ginny," Neville breathed. Then, more audibly, "You like Ginny Weasley?"

"Wh-what? Psshhhh, no. Why would you think that? I was just so upset because-because she's Ron's mate! I do NOT like her. No, not at all," Harry finished. He was grateful for the dark.

Neville started chuckling. At first it was quiet, but it became louder and louder. "You-haha-you are a horrible liar!"

Neville was officially too loud. If he kept being a noob and cracking up at three in the morning, the rest of the boys would wake up. Harry leaped off of his bed and onto Neville's. Harry practically shoved his fist in Neville's mouth. "Shut. Up. Now," Harry growled.

Neville shook his head but calmed down. "Are-are you going to tell her?"

Harry shook his head and sighed. "I can't! He's my best friend's sister!" He sighed again. Suddenly he felt something smack him upside the head.

"STOP BROODING. You need to just tell her!" Neville whisper-shouted.

"Alright, alright! Just help me think of a plan!"

Neville nodded. "Let's do this."

Super sorry for the late update! Normally it won't take this long. Please review! If you didn't like it, tell me EXACTLY what I did wrong so I can work on it in later chapters. Thanks!