Two hours later, Ginny watched carefully while Hermione readied herself for bed, discretely removing the Time-Turner from her neck, placing it in the drawer of her nightstand and muttering a locking charm which, fortunately, Ginny was quite familiar with.

Fidgeting nervously in her bed, the little redhead waited for the last of the girls in the room to turn out the lights and fall asleep, grateful that their evening chatter gave no indication that news had circulated about the incident yet. It gave her little comfort, however, because Ginny was quite certain that it would likely be the most popular topic of discussion during breakfast in the morning.

She once again cringed with apprehension about how Malfoy would thoroughly enjoy encouraging and altering the gossip so that it would be as degrading and humiliating as possible.

It was bad enough that she kept imagining the stories about being a wanton tramp, but far, far worse was how she continued to replay the memory of the kiss.

She touched her lips again as she remembered how incredibly good it had felt. If she was able to undo the moment with the Time-Turner, would she still remember it? A part of her desperately hoped that she would, while her logical side tried to chastise herself for remotely considering the idea that it was something worth remembering. And, unfortunately, she was remembering it rather vividly.

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, she heard the sound of even breathing coming from Hermione's bed.

It was time.

She looked at the small clock by her bed and verified that the fiasco had occurred only three hours ago. She quietly removed the Time-Turner from its drawer and carefully placed it around her neck. One turn per hour, she remembered Harry saying when he told them the story of how he and Hermione had saved Sirius and Buckbeak.

She swallowed nervously and flipped the tiny object four times so that she had more than enough time to stop herself from making the worst mistake of her life.

The effect was disturbing as she watched the world flip past her in reverse, leaving her feeling just a bit dizzy once it finally stopped. She blinked and looked about, verifying that her dorm room was now empty. The clock indicated that it was just before seven, leaving her with almost a full hour to execute her plan.

She crept downstairs, hoping not to be noticed, then realized that it was no longer past curfew. She shook her head, trying to wrap her mind around the concept and walked out of the quiet common room, wondering how Hermione managed to do this almost every day.

Then, a brilliant thought came to her. If Hermione accomplished daily Time-Turning with such ease, then it couldn't be all that difficult. All she needed to worry about was to not be seen by the earlier version of herself.

Not a problem.

She walked down the hall with a bit more confidence.

Having had a couple of hours to analyze the sequence of events that initially led to the disaster, she'd come up with several possible things she could do to stop the incident from happening:

First, keep Malfoy away from the library. Truthfully, that seemed to be the least intrusive and possibly the easiest to accomplish. If Malfoy wasn't there, then really she had nothing to worry about.

Second, keep herself away from the library and subsequently prevent herself from making the dare. This seemed a bit more difficult, since she couldn't allow her past-self to see her current-self.

Third, if all else failed, she could make sure Seamus would be the one to walk into the library before the great blond git.

Simple.

She trotted down to the Great Hall and peeked inside to verify that, yes, she was still finishing her dessert. It was quite surreal to see herself like that and she stared a bit longer than necessary, albeit a bit critically. The cream-colored sweater did look quite nice on her, and she decided that she really did like the way she had her hair tied in back. She made a mental note to do her hair like that more often.

But this was no time to be checking herself out. She was on a mission.

Tearing her gaze away, she looked over to Malfoy, who was laughing with one of his friends and reaching for his bag. She narrowed her gaze at him. It was, after all, his fault for the terrible timing that got her into this.

She ducked back into the hallway and tried to think of how to accomplish her objective. The best course of action would be just to jinx him, maybe with a good Jelly-legs, a Leg-lock, or even an outright Stupefy, and hide him in a broom closet somewhere.

This was going to be too easy.

She found a spot in the hallway that offered a good view of the doorway, leaned up against a comfortable post and waited. Unfortunately, when her target entered the corrridor a few minutes later, he wasn't alone. Crabbe and Goyle, his usual trollish bookends, flanked him on either side. She gave the group a dirty look as they approached, talking and laughing rather amiably amongst themselves. The sight was a bit surprising. They actually seemed just like any other group of friends at Hogwarts, as if Malfoy was a normal boy.

As she considered the idea of Malfoy being normal, thoughts of the kiss invaded her thoughts once again and she shoved them away. She couldn't afford to be distracted while she had a very serious task to accomplish.

In a moment, they would pass her by and she had to do something. She couldn't miss out on what might be her only opportunity to stop him.

Approaching him couldn't be any more embarrassing than kissing him so, taking a deep breath, she stepped into the hallway, blocking the group.

The three stopped and looked at her in surprise, even suspicion. Malfoy raised an eyebrow and seemed to snap out of his light, jovial mood, as if ready to spit out something insulting about her.

She decided to speak first and hopefully take control of the situation. "Malfoy, I need to speak to you about something important."

His eyebrow raised further and the two bookends began to laugh. She glared at the pair, then turned back to their leader, only to find him studying her rather carefully, which she took as a good sign.

His lack of nastiness distracted her and she suddenly found herself at a loss for what she needed to say next. Then she realized that she had started to bite her lip and wring her hands in worry. Overall, the effect likely killed the self-confident impression she was trying to exude.

She needed to fix this and fix it quickly. Shuffling her feet in an attempt to look more dignified, she consciously moved her hands to her sides, clenching them into fists for lack of knowing what to do with them. No, that wouldn't work either, she thought, because it might make him think that she was looking for a fight or an argument. She shuffled her feet again and crossed her arms.

Then, she realized that all her nervous shuffling had taken a rather long time and Malfoy hadn't yet said anything. Also, in her quest to find the perfect pose, she had somehow stopped looking him in the eye and was now staring at his feet. She took a deep breath and tried to calm herself.

Looking back up at him, she saw that he appeared to be highly amused.

She released the breath through her mouth, blowing a strand of hair that had fallen loose from her hair clip and was hanging limply over her right eye.

Malfoy chuckled and the two bookends started to laugh harder. He raised a hand, signaling them to stop and, surprisingly, they did. He then turned to his friends. "Why don't you both go on ahead. I've got to stop by the library and I'll meet up with you later."

The two smiled, nodded, and said a few remarks in agreement before obediently wandering off down the quiet hallway. Ginny watched them go, but not before one of them turned back and gave her a wink.
She cringed in horror.

But at least now she had Malfoy alone, she told herself. She considered going back to her Plan A, which was to just jinx the boy. Unfortunately, the opportunity had passed. Jinxes were best done from behind, so there was no risk being caught, or worse, retaliated against. Now that she'd made contact with Malfoy directly, she'd lost her chance..

She had to continue attempting to reason with him.

"Cat got your tongue, Weaselette?" he asked, still appearing amused, but a bit less than before. Looking at him, unfortunately, caused her to notice his hair, giving her a momentary flashback of how soft it felt under her fingers during the now-infamous snog. She cursed inwardly.

She shook her head, partly in response to him and partly to force the memory from her mind, although the action did little to help with her ability to form a coherent sentence.

"Well, if that's all, then I'll be on my way," he said dryly, then shifted his satchel of books on his shoulder and began walking away.

Getting a bit desperate, she decided to say the only thing that came to mind. "Are you going to the library?" she blurted.

He stopped and turned back to her, his amusement now gone, slowly being replaced with annoyance. This was not going well.

"It's a common place to go when one has research to do, yes," he said in a tone that implied that he was talking to a simpleton.

She took a step toward him and almost reached out to grab his shirt sleeve but stopped herself just before touching him. "You can't go there!" she squeaked emphatically.

He rocked back, apparently quite surprised by her unusual statement. The look of shock on his face seemed to indicate that he was quite convinced that she'd lost all semblance of sanity.

She felt her eyebrows scrunch together in worry and frustration as she came to the realization that her method was anything but reasonable or persuasive.

All trace of humor gone, he looked down at her, obviously annoyed that she'd had the gall to issue a command toward him. "And why not?"

She tried to process a good reason why but the conversation hadn't exactly gone as planned. She looked at him imploringly, pouring her entire heart into her words. It meant everything to her. "Just don't go there. You'll regret it, I promise."

"You promise?" He laughed mockingly. "Are you threatening me, Weaselette?"

Considering the circumstances, some might consider being attacked with a kiss as a threat, but she tossed that thought away quickly and shook her head. "No," she replied, although it sounded a tad weak.

"And why should I believe you?"

She was failing miserably and it made her just a bit angry, though whether the anger was at herself, Malfoy, or the situation, she wasn't sure. She crossed her arms again in irritation and realized that the motion seemed to draw Malfoy's gaze toward her chest. Her mouth dropped open in shock, she uncrossed her arms and stomped her foot firmly to make sure he was listening. "Look, Ferret, I'm trying to do you a favor here. It's for your own good. For once, just try to not be a git about it."

His look of amusement had returned. She wasn't sure if she liked it because he seemed more human, or if she hated it because he was simply being a wanker. She settled on the former when he asked in an almost reasonable tone, "And you actually care about what happens to me?"

She thought about how to answer that. No, truthfully, she could care less about what happened to him. It was all about saving her own reputation. That's when the perfect logic came forth from her sea of muddled thoughts. She looked at him quite seriously and responded, as craftily as possible, "Let's just say it's in my best interest as well."

There, she thought. How could he possibly argue with that perfect Slytherin form of logic? Certain that she'd succeeded, she breathed a sigh and smiled a little triumphantly.

Unfortunately, he failed to immediately agree with her, which caused her smile to fade quickly. Instead, he stared at her intently for a long moment, as if to verify the honesty of her statement.

She swallowed uncomfortably and bit her lip again but she didn't break eye contact with him, waiting for his response. That was when things got a bit out of hand.

He took a step closer.

Finding herself looking up into that cool, gray gaze of his, she was once again at a loss for words. In addition, his nearness allowed her to get a whiff of his cologne, bringing back very vivid memories of the kiss that had yet to happen. She briefly closed her eyes and unconsciously took a deep breath, enjoying the scent of him.

"Why, Weaselette, I had no idea..." Her eyes snapped open, and she saw him smirk while eyeing her up and down. She suddenly felt extremely self-conscious.

She stepped back, feeling the wall behind her, but he stepped forward, continuing to invade her personal space. Her eyes widened as she watched him come closer.

He placed his hand on the wall beside her head, leaning forward and she felt her face flush at how close he was. He chuckled again and his voice dropped to a rather seductive whisper as he leaned his head down, close to her ear. "And just how would that be in your best interest?"

She could feel the blush on her cheeks deepening, which only added to the feelings of embarrassment that she'd suffered earlier in the day. This was not going at all the way she'd planned. She looked into his face, her eyes wide. Then, she licked her lips.

He smirked somewhat triumphantly at her reaction to him.

Coming to her senses, before the lure of his scent became too much for her, she reached up and shoved his arm aside, pushing him away from her and glaring at him indignantly. Her breathing still uncomfortably heavy, she responded, as commandingly as possible, "Just don't go there." Then, she turned to walk away while she still had some semblance of dignity.

He seemed unfazed by her rather huffy tone, stood up straight and crossed his arms over his chest. "Well, I'd be happy to comply, but I do have studying to do, so I'd prefer a better offer."

She stomped her foot in frustration and turned back to him. "You are impossible. I'm telling you, it's for your own good. Why don't you just listen?"

He walked up to her again, enjoying the way that being close to her seemed to unnerve her so much.

"Tell you what, Weaselette, since you are so amusing right now, I'll put it off going for a bit."

She sighed in relief.

"But..." he continued, pausing to watch her catch her breath. He then put a knuckle under her chin, guiding her to look up into his eyes. "I'm going to make it a bit of a hobby to find out why you care so much."

x - x - x - x

She stomped off in more than a bit of a huff after she and Malfoy parted ways. He said he wouldn't go, and she'd watched him turn away from the library and back toward the dungeons, but she remained furious. How dare he say he'd find out why? She didn't care about him in the least! She'd meant it when she said it was in her own self-interest and the dolt didn't believe her!

More importantly, she didn't trust him to not go back on his word.

Glancing at her watch, she saw that she had thirty minutes before the tragedy would happen. She thought about slipping herself a note but, as she hurried toward the library, she realized that it was too late. In the time she had wasted talking to stupid Malfoy, her other self had already gone off to the library and was settling down with her homework, waiting for Amanda to arrive. Worse, she knew that her other self was already hoping to ask her friend about borrowing the leather skirt.

But, Amanda hadn't yet gotten there.

She darted along the hallway, searching for her friend, who had gone to get her books before meeting in the library.

She could delay Amanda.

Jogging toward the section of castle that contained the Hufflepuff common room, Ginny's mind raced with ideas. Unfortunately, most of them might involve getting her friend angry with her, and she really didn't want to do that. She really did like Amanda.

Hurrying up the stairs, she leaned over the banister on the fourth floor and looked down to survey the situation. Her vantage point gave her a clear view of most of the main stairs and all the activity below. Most students were now returning from dinner and she was having trouble picking Amanda from the crowd.

After what seemed like the longest ten minutes of her life, Ginny finally caught sight of her friend approaching the stairs to the second floor, heading diligently in the direction of the library.

But what to do?

Suddenly, her opportunity presented itself. Walking just in front of Amanda was a first year Hufflepuff. Ginny smiled as a clever idea came to mind. Firsties took great pride in casting minor jinxes on each other, mostly because they were simply so excited to be finally able to use their magic. If she cast a small jinx on the boy, it would be assumed that he had been pranked by another firstie. It was childish and it was common. It was perfect.

Amanda wouldn't abandon a firstie that had just been jinxed because she was far too nice. It would delay her friend just long enough to disrupt the timing of the upcoming dare.

A moment of guilt washed over her at the idea of casting a jinx on a poor, unsuspecting firstie, but she got over it quickly. This was, after all, a matter of life or death. Well, not really, but it certainly felt like it.

Deciding that she would find a way to make it up to the little boy later, she closed her eyes and aimed her wand in his direction.

It was a simple Jelly-legs. Nothing harmful, but Amanda would likely be distracted for several minutes in order to escort the boy to the infirmary.

Immediately after casting the spell, she ducked away from the banister so that she wouldn't be seen.

After a few moments, she peered over cautiously.

She'd missed.

A small hole had been blasted in the stair and Amanda had caught her foot in it somehow. She was lying at a bit of an awkward angle, causing her skirt to ride a bit high, giving Neil Connors, a seventh year Ravenclaw who had been walking behind her, a rather enticing view of the girl's leg.

The firstie had turned and was being rather sweet about trying to help her pick up her books and Neil hurried to help her free her foot, while ogling her exposed limb.

It was almost funny, but Ginny cringed, her hand over her mouth in horror. She'd just completely embarrassed her friend all because of her selfish motives.

The noise had attracted the attention of a number of students in the vicinity, and Ginny scanned the crowd to see if anyone had noticed that she had been the culprit who'd cast the spell. With relief, she realized that all attention was focused on the commotion and nobody seemed to take notice of her, positioned two floors above the incident.

Well, she thought nobody noticed, until she caught sight of the unusually light blond hair of Malfoy.

And the prick was looking up at her as if he was well-aware of the fact that she'd been the cause of the commotion.

She glared at him and he merely grinned back before continuing on his way, which, fortunately, was not in the direction of the library.

Looking back to check on Amanda, she was relieved to see her friend smiling up at the Ravenclaw boy who'd just rescued her foot. They seemed to be flirting.

Ginny gave a small, "Hmmph" in annoyance. Not that she minded that things turned out well for Amanda, it was just that Ginny never seemed to have that kind of luck. A mistake happens for Amanda, and she gets to flirt with a cute, older Ravenclaw. For Ginny, a mistake happens and all she gets is trouble wrapped in a Malfoy-blond package. She slumped against the banister and pouted.

Then, Ginny became hopeful. If Amanda's flirting delayed her for a few minutes, it would help immensely. She looked back down the stairs and felt her spark of hope fizzle and die. The little firstie was handing Amanda the books he'd gathered, the Ravenclaw was giving her a wave as he walked away, and the girl was now cheerfully on her way back toward the library.

This was not going well at all.

She checked her watch. She had just over fifteen minutes to come up with another plan. Amanda was apparently rather interested in Neil and Ginny supposed that her friend now had even less reason to part with her favorite piece of clothing on a Hogsmeade weekend. In fact, if she was now hoping to further impress Neil, Amanda would certainly demand something in return, such as a dare, before being willing to loan it out.

Ginny felt her situation was getting more desperate. She no longer had any desire to borrow the cursed skirt, but had no way to tell her other self that. Amanda was now out of sight, most definitely well on her way to the library, and Ginny's options were rapidly dwindling.

Trotting down the stairs, she caught sight of Malfoy striding toward the library again. A silent little scream went through her head as she realized that he'd completely ignored her warning. A number of colorful expletives came to mind as she silently cursed him and her feet started moving automatically in his direction. She might still have time to hex him from behind and shove him into the nearest broom closet.

But, she needed to hurry.

She caught up to him just as she rounded a corner, nearly colliding with him from behind, which surely would have only added to the evening's long list of catastrophes. Instead, she skidded to a halt in an impressively ungraceful display as she slipped on the smooth stone floor.

Well, so much for sneaking up on him from behind.

Of course, he noticed the noise and turned, and upon recognizing the source of the commotion, he stared at her in disbelief.

"Following me now, Weaselette?" He looked her over appraisingly, again, from head to toe.

It took her a moment to process his words. He'd just insinuated that she was somehow following him because she was attracted to him. Once again, she felt herself blush in embarrassment. "No!" she insisted, a bit too indignantly.

He cocked his head to the side and raised his eyebrows in silent question.

Her rapid denial at his insinuation would likely only going to add fuel to the oncoming gossip and humiliation if she failed to stop the snog-of-death. But, lacking any intelligent response, she stammered, "I told you not to go to the library."

"And, I didn't go. In fact, I wasted a good half hour not going and was about to be bored to death trying to have a conversation with Goyle. I've decided to take my chances."

She looked at her watch. Ten minutes. She needed to stall him for ten minutes.

"Please! Just a little while longer. I promise."

He smirked again. "And, what do you promise?"

Her cheeks flushed again, this time in anger. "Stop that!"

He crossed his arms and leaned against the wall, looking rather smug and even cavalier. Being devoid of his snooty sneer was certainly a good look for him and, once again, she thought of how pleasant kissing him had been. That thought was quickly followed by wondering if he'd enjoyed it as much as she had. She shook her head, trying to clear the incredibly unwelcome thought.

He studied her, then in an uncharacteristically agreeable tone, he said, "All right. I'll wait."

She raised her eyebrows in surprise, trying to comprehend if she'd heard him correctly. He was agreeing?

"Fine," she responded. "I'll let you know when it's all clear." And with that, she walked off. She glanced back once to make certain that he was remaining in place, only to see that he was staring, with great amusement, at her arse.