Michal Corner was up early the first day of classes. He wasn't usually an early riser, but it had been over a week, and he thought Ginny would like being walked down to breakfast by her boyfriend. They had been together for about six months now, and he was getting closer. Ginny was comfortable around him, not as much as he wanted, but for a body like hers, he could wait. Michal settled down next to the portrait of the Fat Lady to wait, lost in thoughts of Ginny's body.

Ginny was up early as well, for a similar, but all together different reason. She was sitting in Harry's favorite armchair by the fire, waiting for him to come down. After what Hermione had had told her last night, the redhead had resolved to keep a closer eye on Harry Potter. After twenty minutes of waiting, she was just about ready to give up and go down to breakfast alone, when Harry and Ron came down the stairs together, discussing something in hushed tones. Harry glanced up, saw her, and for some reason stopped dead, did a double take, and quickly hushed Ron as a blush rose to his face. Ginny wasn't sure what they had been talking about, but clearly they didn't want her to know about it. She fell in with them as they were joined by Hermione, who had just come down the girl's staircase. Harry seemed amused, but please, by her joining them, Ron looked skeptical, but wasn't saying anything, and Hermione winked at her. Harry's expression returned to normal, if a little more content, as he took out the Marauders Map. He opened the map and scanned it quickly, before his eyes went wide and he pulled Ron off to one side.

"He's right outside the Common Room, must be waiting for her." Ron looked slightly confused by Harry's statement, until he took another look at the map.

"Early warning shot?" asked Ron.

"Actually I was thinking something a little more to the point." Answered Harry with a wicked grin. "Distract the girls." Ron nodded and went to stop Hermione and Ginny from leaving the Common Room, while Harry sprinted out of the Portrait Hole, wand at the ready. Neither girl had a clue what was going on, but assumed that Harry and Ron did, therefore they remained stationary.

Harry, meanwhile, had shot out the Portrait Hole, Casting jinxes and hexes as fast he could, which, given his experience, was considerable. Michal never had a chance, as a good twenty or thirty hexes connected squarely with his person, with varied and interesting results. Michal Corner was going to need spend a while in the Hospital Wing, not because Harry had hurt him, but because some hexes, when mixed together, have unpredictable, debilitating results. Harry called Dobby who managed to drag off the unconscious Ravenclaw with just moments to spare before Ron, Hermione, and Ginny came out through the Portrait Hole, the latter two demanding to know what was going on.

"Oh yeah, sorry 'bout that, false alarm." Harry tried to sound casual and embarrassed, but didn't really think either girl was fooled. They didn't press him, however, as the four made their way to breakfast and than to classes.

Breakfast in the Great Hall was always interesting, but it had lost the joviality of previous years. Now Harry walked into the Hall every morning dreading another Educational Decree from Umbridge, or some disturbing news in the Prophet. No one had yet received a "your whole family has been killed, sorry" letter, but it was only a matter of time. After helping himself to some toast, Harry began to scan the Daily Prophet for anything interesting. He was just getting to an add for Madam Malkin's, when a strange barn owl landed next to his plate, holding out the letter tied to his leg. Who would be writing to him right after Christmas? The only person outside of Hogwarts who wrote to him was Sirius, and they had only parted company yesterday. Harry took the letter, pushing a glass of water towards the owl, and began to read.

Dear Harry,

Charlie and I were delighted to hear of your new- found interest in protecting our baby sister from her own beauty, she really is too popular. It warms our hearts to know that Ron has the full might of The-Boy-Who-Lived behind him. After all, if you can fight a Hungarian Horntail, a few randy fourth-years shouldn't be much of a problem. So, in short, thank you for helping to watch out for Ginny while we can't, if you need anything, don't hesitate to ask, you're as good as family.

-Bill Weasley

Harry silently handed the letter to Ron, who read it without expression. 'Great,' thought Harry 'now Ron's told the whole family, man they are going to kill me.' He could just imagine what Bill would say when he found out the truth. Ron was looking particularly pleased with himself when he passed the letter back to Harry, who promptly burned, much to Hermione's chagrin.

"Hey! You two have been acting really strange lately, first that thing this morning, now secret letters that you can't even share with me, what's going on? And why can't you tell me?"

Ron and Harry shared a look at what they called 'typical nosey Hermione', before answering "Guy stuff" which only served to further aggravate Hermione.

"Oh? Been trying to work out whether Cho's or my breasts are bigger?" it was almost the hardest thing Hermione had ever done to say that with a straight face, but the looks on the boys faces was worth it. Both of them had their jaws on the floor, and their eyes were threatening to come right out of their heads.

"So," continued Hermione, enjoying herself immensely, "who is it?" She was soon wearing a look nearly identical to Ron's as Harry answered with a perfectly straight face: "You." Needless to say it was a very interesting, albeit embarrassing breakfast for the trio.

By lunch the three were permanently blushing, and wishing to be anywhere else but Hogwarts that morning. Snape, seeming to sense their discomfort, had been particularly unpleasant that morning, taking any and all excuse to dock points from Gryffindor. Worse yet, they had Umbridge right after lunch, the only bright spot on the horizon, apart from the successful ambush of Michal Corner, was the D.A. meeting the following evening. Harry had already had several conversations with various members about what the weekly meetings would be like in the spring. He had even had one awkward conversation with Cho Chang; everything that happened between them seemed to be awkward. He had fared better then usual though, and she had readily accepted his invitation to Hogsmead on Valentine's Day. Although truth be told, Harry wasn't as excited as he might have been. But he couldn't rush things like that, he needed to keep up appearances, besides, he owed Cho a talk about Cedric. Harry was by no means looking forward to that, but it needed to happen.

Harry didn't know exactly what he was going to do with the D.A., he knew everyone wanted to start on The Patronus Charm, but he had doubts about his ability to teach such an advanced charm. He also didn't want anyone to get discouraged when they couldn't do it, most adult witches and wizards couldn't do it, but everyone would still be disappointed. That was one of the many things Harry loved about the D.A., he didn't expect perfection from his friends, they already expected it from themselves.

Ginny was having a large amount of difficulty in charms. They were working on Banishing Charms, the opposite of the Summoning Charm, but her mind was far from the Charms classroom, she was thinking about what had happened that morning. Harry and Ron had been conversing very suspiciously, and then Harry had run off with his wand out. Two hours later, Ginny had learned that her boyfriend was in the Hospital Wing, having been severely hexed while waiting for her outside Gryffindor Tower.

There were two possibilities, one horrible and one fantastic. The fantastic, far less likely scenario, was that Harry had fallen madly in love with her, and was horribly jealous of Michal. The horrible, far more likely possibility was that Ron and her other brothers had finally managed to recruit Harry into their campaign to destroy anything even close to a love life that she might have for the next twenty or so years. Either way Ginny was extremely confused, and rather angry at Ron, surely the entire thing was his fault, Harry was much more mature then that. If only she knew the irony.

To say that Harry was outraged was an under statement, to say that he was madder then anyone had ever seen him before was more accurate, but still inadequate. His friends were genuinely scared, if Harry lost his temper, it would be bad for all involved. The reason for Harry's new personal record was, of course, Umbridge. News that Harry Potter and Cho Chang were going on their first date together had spread through the school like wildfire, and that included the teachers. Once Umbridge had found out she had given him detention for the entire weekend, for sneezing too loudly in her class one day. Not even Snape had ever done anything that outrageous, and that was saying something. Hermione was practically begging him to appeal to the Headmaster, but Harry stubbornly refused.

"It'll only make her worse if she finds out she's getting to me, I'm not giving the old toad the satisfaction. Besides, this is the perfect opportunity to call in a favor with Fred and George."While Hermione warned him against doing anything too irresponsible, Ron was deathly curious to know why Fred and George owed him a favor, and voiced his question.

"Well I may, and I stress may, have given them a thousand Galleons to start a joke shop." Harry said the second part very quickly as if that would somehow make admitting it easier. It took a full three minutes for Hermione to regain her powers of speech, another new record for the day. Both her and Ron were outraged that Harry had given the twins so much money, though for different reasons.

"Mom's going to kill you when she finds out." Ron informed him a little too cheerfully, making Harry's stomach drop. Mrs. Weasley's temper was legendary.

"I mean," continued Ron "she might even forget that she never, ever, yells at you."

"Yeah, our dear mother's never yelled at you, has she Harry? How do you get so lucky?" The twins had appeared, seemingly out of nowhere, and joined the conversation.

"Gred! Forge! I was just looking for my two favorite pranksters." Harry exclaimed, thinking that finally his luck might be changing, at least he wouldn't have to go looking for the twins.

"Well how may we be of service Harry?" asked Fred, or was it George?

"Do what you do best. Prank. Umbridge. Mercilessly."

Harry paused deliberately between each word to make sure he got his point across. Fred and George looked like Christmas had come early, snapping to attention and firing off mock salutes, they headed off towards Gryffindor Tower, already plotting the High Inquisitor's downfall.

Fred and George's dedication to the task Harry had set them became apparent that evening at dinner, when Umbridge suddenly burst into feather, a fat canary taking her place. Harry was just as shocked as everyone else, he had expected the twins to take their time and start big, but it liked like they were going to start small and work their way up.

Harry turned his attention back to his plans against Ginny's current boyfriend. He and Ron had been working quite hard on these various plots and schemes, causing Hermione to comment that if they put that much effort into their school work, they would get twelve O.W.L.'s each. Hermione still had no idea what they were up to together, and they could tell that it was driving her crazy not knowing. She mostly assumed that it was the prank war Harry had started against Umbridge.

"Do you think we could Hermione in on this? I mean we've always been able to count on her before"

Harry pondered Ron's question for a couple if minutes before answering. It really was a difficult choice, on the one hand, Hermione had always helped them before, on the other hand, they had never done anything this petty before. No, Hermione would definitely not approve, she would most likely tell Ginny, or worse yet, figure out what was really going on.

"Nah I don't think Hermione would really understand, no way Hermione would agree with us, she'd run right off to tell Ginny, or worse, your mum."

"Yeah I guess your right," replied Ron "and we definitely don't want mum finding out about this." Ron gave an involuntary shudder at the thought of his mother finding out what they were up to. "This was its just like old times isn't it? Just you and me, no life or death consequences, makes for a nice reminder of our younger years.

"No life or death consequences? Ginny will bloody murder us if she finds out what we're up to. This is the most deadly, dangerous thing we've ever done." Harry then looked around to ensure no one was close enough to here them, and both boys returned to the planning of Operation Pink Flamingo.

A/N-- Special thanks to the NYMA Raider team, Task Force Charlie, for all the help in picking code names and such. NYMA RAIDERS HOOAHHH!!!!

To say that the youngest, and in many minds best looking, Weasley was upset would the understatement of the century. Fuming might be better, or perhaps furious. Ginny had just come from the Hospital Wing, where Michal had confirmed her suspicions that it had, in fact, been Harry that had attacked him. As Ginny really doubted that Harry had suddenly fallen madly in love with her, Ron must have finally succeeded, and now they were working together to ruin her life. It wasn't her brother's interference that upset her, she expected little better from Ron, but she had at least hoped that Harry would be mature enough to respect her. But from what Hermione had told her, Harry was actually taking the lead, and was not just helping him. The fact that she was excited about Harry being protective of her only served to fuel her anger. She just wished it was because Harry wanted her for himself, and not because he thought she a helpless child.

Harry looked up from his homework, he had and Ron had put Pink Flamingo as the Common Room filled, to find a terrified looking Neville Longbottom running towards him. He immediately assumed the worst, as it looked like Neville had just run several miles.

"Neville what's wrong? What's happened?"It took a few seconds for Neville to be able to speak, but once he did, his words caused Harry's blood to chill.

"G-G-G-Ginny, she's coming here… looking for you… and Ron… Hospital Wing… really mad… RUN!" Neville just barely managed to pant out his warning, it seemed he had run all the way from the second floor to warn them.

Harry and Ron's brains had just communicated to the rest of their bodies that they should run, but it was too late. The Portrait Hole slammed open, and it stomped, one very angry, very pretty redhead. Despite his impending doom, Harry couldn't help but notice the way Ginny's anger accented her natural beauty. Her eyes were almost glowing, her cheeks were flushed, and her hair was splayed out over her shoulders like curtains of fire. The flush in her cheeks rose, as did the intensity of her eyes, then the damn broke.

"ARE YOU TWO COMPLETELY OUT OF YOUR BLODDY MINDS? HOW DARE YOU ATTACK MY BOYFRIEND!!! I AM NOT A CHILD, I AM PERFECTLY CAPABLE OF TAKING CARE OF MYSELF! JUST BECAUSE NEITHER OF YOU HAS EVER HAD A PROPER DATE. I DON'T KNOW HOW YOU CAN POSSIBLY THINK YOU KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT RELATIONSHIPS, EXCEPT HOW TO AVOID THEM! JUST WAIT UNTILL I TELL MUM, I BET SHE SENDS YOU ANOTHER HOWLER!"

Fortunately they were spared any further tirade when Ginny seemed to run out of steam, and stomped off up to the girl's dormitory, the portraits rattling in their frames with each step she took. This had been ten time worse the anything Harry had witnessed from Mrs. Weasley, and a quick glance at Ron confirmed that he had never been that thoroughly chewed out either.

Ginny's minor explosion had seriously upset Harry, he had never considered the possibility that they might be really upsetting Ginny's feelings, what if she ended up hating him? He could only hope that everything would work out in the long run, because it was going to a very long one.

Just how hard became apparent at breakfast the next morning, when a familiar, tired, tattered looking owl dropped a blood-red letter in front of him and Ron. Harry immediately dove under the table, while Ron attempted to flee the Great Hall on foot. Neither of them was fast enough, but Harry doubted that anything could have blocked out Mrs. Weasley's magically modified voice.

"RONALD BILIUS WEASLEY, HARRY JAMES POTTER! ARE YOU BOTH OUT OF YOUR MINDS? ATACKING ANOTHER STUDENT JUST BECAUSE HE'S DATING YOUR SISTER! OF ALL THE STUPID, IMMATURE THINGS YOU HAVE DONE OVER THE YEARS, THIS IS THE WORST, I MIGHT HAVE EXPECTED SOMETHING LIKE THIS FROM FRED OR GEORGE, BUT I EXPECTED BETTER FROM THE TWO OF YOU! IF I HEAR SO MUCH AS A SLIGHT RUMOR THE YOU, OR HARRY, I DON'T CARE HOW JEALOUS HE IS, HAVE BUTT INTO YOUR SISTER'S LIFE AGAIN, YOU WILL BARELY LIVE TO REGRET IT!

The envelope finished screaming at them and burst into flames, destroying the remains of Harry's breakfast. Harry himself was still halfway under the table, in shock, horrified shock, at Mrs. Weasley's last words. He was never going to live this down, ever. Ron was also frozen in place, nearly at the doors, with an identical look of horrified shock on his face, but for a slightly different reason. He was used to his mother's yelling, so it didn't affect him that much, but her remark about Harry being jealous of Ginny's boyfriend had struck a nerve, especially since it made sense. Harry had been a lot more interested in Ginny lately then ever before, and anxious to see her single. Ron spared a glance towards his little sister, who was looking so smug it must be making Malfoy jealous, and that was saying something. Ron thought that she probably hadn't registered the last sentence yet, or she would be blushing furiously, as she always did when anyone mention her previous crush on Harry. He was not disappointed, his sister was soon blushing furiously, as was Harry. Ron took another glance around, and his eyes found Michal Corner, who seemed mixed between fury and fear that Harry Potter was after him. Harry was going to be enduring a tremendous amount of teasing after this, and a lot of awkward questions regarding his feelings towards his best friend's sister, the first of which would be from Ron himself. Life was going to be very interesting at Hogwarts for the next few weeks; Apart from the two weeks worth of detention that he and Harry had from Umbridge for interrupting breakfast.