It took a couple days of seeing Michael and Cho sitting together at the Ravenclaw table during mealtimes or snogging out on the grounds for the reality of it to sink in for Ginny. Despite this, Ginny still had the nagging feeling in the back of her mind that Cho would quickly dump Michael and try to get back with Harry. These kinds of thoughts came unconsciously for Ginny now; they were necessary to prevent her from getting her heart broken. Nonetheless, the more days that went by with Cho and Michael still together, the brighter the world seemed to Ginny.

Not many students outside of Ravenclaw were aware of Michael and Ginny's breakup or what had happened that led to it. As fifth-years were so busy preparing for O.W.L.s, there wasn't much time for gossip. Even Hermione hadn't said anything about it, though Ginny was certain she must know. She seemed to know everything. Whenever Ginny saw her these days, though, she was ripping through her notes, sighing loudly every few seconds. Even being near her was enough to send one's anxiety through the roof. Still, some people must have heard about it, because Ginny found she was subject to increased stares and glances by the school's male population, mostly Ravenclaws, but also others as well, including Justin Finch-Fletchley in Hufflepuff, Dean Thomas (Ginny quickly realized Lena was not making stuff up), and, to her horror, even a couple of Slytherins. Unfortunately for her though, not Harry Potter.

Harry had thanked Ginny for helping him get the chance to talk to Sirius, and his mood had much improved over the course of May. He also had congratulated her on the victory in the Quidditch final, but told her he wasn't able to see it because Hagrid had distracted him and Hermione with something important ("You know how he gets," he said). Ginny felt a little sad about this but got over it quickly.

Despite this, there had been no more moments since the Easter holidays that could have been remotely construed as romantic tension between them, and Ginny believed that everything that happened on that day in April when she delivered Mum's chocolate to him was a ridiculous concoction of her own mind. She had overreacted to him confiding in her for the first time, which only happened because she had given him some yummy candy, causing him to let up his guard slightly. Her hormones had just gotten out of control, she was seeing stuff that simply wasn't there, and she felt silly and stupid for believing it was anything more than that. She was extremely grateful that she had resisted her urge to snog him while they were in the classroom that day. How stupid would that have been? The resulting scenario played out in her mind several times and it always made her shudder. He would throw her off him, demand to know what the hell she thought she was doing, and then say something about her being Ron's sister and run away, never speaking to her again. She thought never having gained the ability to speak in front of him without blushing and never becoming his friend would have been preferable to this happening.

As June wore on and O.W.L.s were finally upon the fifth-years, Harry focused on little else, and as Ginny had her own exams to worry about, the two of them didn't interact much at all. There was one instance that gave Ginny quite a scare, however: she had been walking with Lena through the entrance hall when they saw Harry, Ron, and Hermione chatting together near the doors to the Great Hall. Lena giggled and nudged Ginny in the ribs, nodding to Harry right as Harry happened to turn and look at her. Ginny blushed furiously and kicked Lena in the shin to get her to shut up, causing her to squeal in pain and grab the spot where Ginny's foot had made contact. Harry saw all of this, but didn't seem to think too hard about what he saw nor take away any meaning from it whatsoever, and promptly went back to chatting with his two best friends as though nothing happened. Others were mingling about in the entrance hall and laughing with each other too, so the two of them didn't appear that out of place. Nevertheless, Ginny realized telling Lena and Amber about her feelings may have been a big mistake.

Though Harry appeared not to notice anything when it came to Ginny's behavior around him ever since the chocolate-in-the-library day, she had to be certain, and that meant tracking down Hermione on the rare occasion that she was alone. It turned out the very next day provided her such an opportunity, as Ginny spotted her outside by the lake poring through her books and notes, preparing for her Potions O.W.L.

"He hasn't noticed anything," she told her. She looked quite annoyed at having been disrupted from her studying but still gave Ginny her full attention; she clearly cared. "I'd be very surprised if he knows about your feelings, or even that you broke up with Michael. He's really busy with O.W.L. stuff and I don't think he's thinking about girls or future relationships right now."

It sounded to Ginny like Hermione was trying to say in a very diplomatic way that Harry was not thinking about her at all. Ginny didn't feel torn up by this; she knew O.W.L.s required pretty much the entirety of his attention. In fact, she felt relieved that Harry was still oblivious given recent events. They sat in silence for a moment. Hermione scribbled some notes, looking at her Potions book.

"You know," said Hermione. "You really haven't taken my advice, have you?"

"What do you mean? Of course I have!"

"I told you that you needed to relax," she said. "And date other people and hope Harry starts taking more interest in you then."

"Which is what I did! And I am relaxed!"

"Are you?"

Ginny said nothing.

"Whatever you've been this past year, Ginny, 'relaxed' isn't even close to the word I would use," Hermione continued, putting her quill down. "You've been moody, anxious, and depressed. I know it's been a tough year, and God knows I haven't been relaxed much either, but when I said to date some other boys, I didn't mean finding someone to use a coping mechanism."

"I was depressed mainly because of — her," said Ginny. Hermione did not need to ask who "her" was. "At first it was many things… but eventually it was almost all because of her. I really thought he'd never get over her. I even thought they'd end up married. Stupid, right? But that's over now. I feel better than I have all year."

"I'm glad to hear that," she said kindly. "You have seemed more upbeat lately."

She scribbled some notes and flipped a page in her Potions book noisily.

"What were things about her that Harry didn't like?" asked Ginny curiously.

"I think she cried too much. He was always complaining about how much she cried. And I don't think they ever truly recovered from that Valentine's Day mess."

"Oh," said Ginny, making a mental note never to cry in front of Harry.

"Anyway, I guess my point is, get another boyfriend," Hermione said bluntly. "And do it right, this time. Don't just use him to cope like you did with Michael. Make Harry notice him. Shove him in his face. Show him what he's missing. Maybe he will get jealous."

"Hermione!" yelped Ginny, who was not expecting this whatsoever. "That's a bit, erm… unethical, isn't it?"

Hermione merely shrugged.

"I wouldn't do it just to try and make him jealous. That's not what I'm saying. What I am saying is, well… just take opportunities when they're presented. And, if nothing else, it should help you be confident around him. Any awkward moments can be dismissed by him knowing that you have a boyfriend, see?"

Ginny suddenly remembered how Hermione had rubbed Krum in Ron's face at the Yule Ball and made sure he saw her writing a letter to him around Christmastime. Ginny could hardly see a parallel between their situations though.

"It won't work," she said miserably. "I'll only ever be Ron's sister to him, I know it."

"As long as you're yourself, relaxed and confident, and not the girl that always blushed and froze up around him, then I don't think so. If you're more like how you were over Christmas break, where you talked about being possessed and helped knock some sense into him, then he'll see you as your own person. Honestly, he does already."

Hermione's words triggered the memory.

"You don't know anyone but me who's been possessed by You-Know-Who, and I can tell you how it feels."

"I forgot."

"Lucky you."

Yes, she may have had a deep-seated depression to the point where she hardly cared about anything anymore when she said these things to Harry, but she remembered how she used to knock things over and put her elbow in butter dishes when he did nothing more than walk into the room, and she couldn't help but feel thrilled at how far she had come.

"So," said Ginny finally, "to state the obvious… now would not be a good time to ask him out? Or even just give him a hint that I fancy him?"

Hermione gave Ginny what she thought was somewhat of a pitying look. When she responded, though, her tone was gentle.

"I think he needs time, Ginny. Time to move on from Cho. Like I said, I don't think he's interested in another relationship right now. Not this soon. He's noticed you, of course, but as far as I can tell he still just sees you as a friend. If he has developed any feelings, he hasn't realized it yet, or if he has then he's very good at hiding it. That's why I said you should go out with someone else and make Harry notice him. Maybe that will trigger something."

"But what if he does take interest but then gives up, believing I'm unavailable?" asked Ginny, who thought this was a risky idea, just as she had when Hermione first pitched it before the Yule Ball.

"Then his feelings probably weren't genuine," said Hermione. Ginny considered her answer and thought it had merit. As much as she dreamed of snogging him, she wanted his love and commitment more than anything. "You know I'd let you know right away if I notice anything, don't you?"

"Yeah… I know. It just seems a shame… I mean, we're both single now… I was really hoping…"

Hermione put her arm around her and squeezed.

"I know."

Ginny was a bit dejected for a few days after her conversation with Hermione, but she did not feel depressed. She checked the Ravenclaw table every morning and evening, looking to make sure Cho and Michael were still together, and was never given any evidence to the contrary. Michael caught her eye a couple of times but always looked away quickly, embarrassed, and he seemed to make a determined effort not to look in her direction any more after that.

Ginny fought with herself repeatedly over what to do about Harry, still unsure whether she should listen to Hermione or not.

We're both single now. If not now, then when?

Hermione is smart, she knows what she's talking about.

She and Ron still haven't gotten together… why should I trust her with relationship advice?

She dated a Quidditch star… Ron is just a clueless git.

I'd be passing up a golden opportunity, though, if I took her advice.

But Harry only sees me as a friend… he doesn't fancy me. I'd only blow it forever with him.

How can I be sure of that, though? What if he does fancy me?

He doesn't. I'm Ron's sister…

"Hey," said a voice she didn't recognize. She was sitting in the library, studying for her Transfiguration final, but had become distracted by her thoughts and was now staring off into space. "You dropped your quill."

It was one of the Slytherins she had noticed looking at her a few times. He was a tall, black boy who was not bad looking, but Ginny knew he ran around with Malfoy's gang and was just as prejudiced as the rest of them, so she wanted nothing to do with him.

"Er — thanks," said Ginny awkwardly. She bent down to pick up her quill, all while watching him out of the corner of her eye, making sure he wasn't just trying to hex her.

"What are you studying?"

"Transfiguration," replied Ginny, eyeing him suspiciously.

He looked like he was deciding whether to say anything further. Eventually he moved along past the bookshelves and out of sight. Ginny watched him go as much as she dared; she had an insane notion that he was considering asking her out. As if.

As Harry and the rest of the fifth-years struggled with their O.W.L.s, Ginny felt compelled to go talk to him one evening while they were all in the common room, just to give him a break from studying, and even, provided she was daring enough, bring him some more chocolate, hoping it would lighten his mood and relax him a bit (while having the added benefit of giving herself some pleasure as well). The incident with Lena made her a bit more hesitant to do this, however, as she wondered just how far she could push things without Harry realizing she fancied him. In the end, she chickened out.

They were only a couple days away from the end of exams now. As always though, the school year wasn't going to come to a close without some drama first. There was an incident while the fifth-years were taking their Astronomy O.W.L. practical: Umbridge and a few other Ministry wizards had marched out to Hagrid's hut in the dead of night and sacked him; he resisted, and being half-giant, Stunning spells merely bounced off of him, and he knocked some of the Ministry wizards out cold with his bare hands. He escaped with his dog and was now on the run. Professor McGonagall, who saw what was going on and came to Hagrid's aid, took four Stunners to the chest at once and was now in St. Mungo's.

"It's lucky she wasn't killed," said Amber darkly. Ginny didn't think she could hate Umbridge more, but she was wrong.

The only exam left was Charms; Ginny had passed everything thus far, though History of Magic was a close call. The exam had been very hard and there were quite a few students that did fail, including Lena. Thanks to the D.A. lessons, she got her best score in Defense Against the Dark Arts, and she made sure to give Umbridge the smuggest look she could muster when she got her result. Right before she headed off to take her Charms final the following day, she was tracked down by Dean.

"Hey Ginny! There's going to be an all-night party in the common room tonight to celebrate the end of exams! You coming?"

"Yeah, will probably see you there," said Ginny, wondering how she could possibly avoid it even if she wanted to when it was held in the common room.

"Great, can't wait!" said Dean, heading back down the corridor to join Seamus, who was waiting for him. He threw her a charming, flirtatious grin as he left. It didn't take a genius to figure out what he was up to. He was going to try and hook up with her.

The Charms exam was mercifully one of her easier ones and she got an "E" without much trouble. She jovially discussed her results with Lena and Amber outside the classroom, all of them feeling enormous relief at exams finally being over and looking forward to the all-night party in the common room that night. Despite wanting to celebrate, Ginny still felt a bit trepidatious about Dean. She liked him well enough, and he was good-looking, but she was just too hung up on Harry at the moment to want to date him. Ginny's thoughts were interrupted by Luna, who joined them and asked Ginny for a word in private.

"Sure," said Ginny. Lena and Amber left.

"I convinced Daddy to give you a free July's edition of The Quibbler," Luna announced, after they briefly discussed their tests. "I wasn't sure whether I should tell you with your friends there, since The Quibbler is still banned."

"Oh — thanks very much Luna! That's really kind of you."

Luna smiled.

"Cho is still really mad at you, you know."

"Good," said Ginny, who was perfectly accustomed to Luna's habit of changing topics unexpectedly.

"I think you should apologize."

"No, Luna, I don't think I should," said Ginny coldly.

Luna responded by staring at her unblinkingly for a few seconds.

"You know what happened, didn't you?" said Ginny. "You heard?"

"Yes, I did. Still, I think what you did was more about Harry than Michael, wasn't it?"

"DAMN IT, LUNA!" Ginny shouted, who was reaching her limit with this now. Just how many people knew she fancied him? The number was surely reaching "dicey" status now. "Who told you that? Was it Michael, that stupid git? I'm gonna murder him —"

"No, but I saw how upset you were on the train when Cho showed up," said Luna, completely unperturbed by Ginny's outburst. "I didn't say anything, of course…"

Ginny remembered how her mind went into dark territory after Cho's visit to their compartment, and how she found Luna staring at her when she snapped out of it.

"Anyway, Michael said something about you during the Quidditch match," Luna continued. "I could hear him; he was sitting in front of me. One of his friends was asking him about his relationship with you, and he was saying he wanted to end it. He was mad about you giving Harry chocolate in the library."

"How did he find out about that?"

"I don't know, but I doubt you were the only two in the library that day," said Luna thoughtfully.

Of course. Madam Pince had screamed it for the whole library to hear and made a huge scene. Ginny should have known. It was probably common knowledge around the entire school at this point that Ginny gave Harry chocolate in the library. Still, out of all the legitimate complaints Michael could have had about how she acted with Harry, he chose one Ginny legitimately thought was unfair. The actual act of giving him the chocolate had nothing to do with her fancying him. It wasn't even her chocolate — it was Mum's — and it was just happenstance that she had been chosen to deliver it. She would have done it regardless of how she felt about him. She let loose.

"He was stewing about that for a whole month? The chocolate was from Mum, not me — she specifically made an egg for Harry — McGonagall gave me the package to deliver to him. What was I supposed to do? Not give him what was his? He should have come and talked to me about it instead of going off and snogging Cho — who does that? I could have set him straight — stupid git —"

"I agree."

"And the idiot never even had the guts to tell me, even when we broke up! He was just like 'don't hurt Cho, don't hurt Cho!' What a pathetic loser!"

A pronounced silence followed this rant.

"I'm sorry, Luna. I didn't mean to yell at you earlier. I'm just fed up with all of this."

"Don't worry," she said. "I'm just glad you have your passion back."

Ginny didn't know what to say to this, so she just smiled awkwardly, still feeling a bit guilty about her outburst. They started making their way down to the entrance hall, intending to spend some time out on the sunlit grounds following their last exam, but when they reached the first-floor corridor, they heard angry voices.

"Is that Harry?" said Luna curiously.

Ginny listened; there was shouting coming from a nearby classroom, and it definitely sounded like Harry's voice.

"He sounds really upset," said Luna. "We should see what's wrong and hopefully we can help him."

"Let's go," said Ginny. They hurried to the door where they heard the commotion, looked around to make sure they were alone, then entered.

Harry was there with Ron and Hermione. Hermione and Ron looked shaken; Harry was beside himself. They turned to see who the intruders were.

"Hi," said Ginny uncertainly. "We recognized Harry's voice — what are you yelling about?"

"Never you mind," said Harry roughly.

So Harry was in a mood again. Ginny could immediately tell that something terrible had happened, so she tried not to feel hurt by his attitude. It was difficult, however. If it had been anyone else, she wouldn't have cared in the slightest, but because it was Harry…

She had to find out what happened though, so she did her best to shove her feelings aside.

"There's no need to take that tone with me," she said, trying to keep her face as impassive as possible. "I was only wondering whether I could help."

"Well, you can't," said Harry shortly, before Ginny even had a chance to second-guess her response.

"You're being rather rude, you know," said Luna serenely. She did not miss how Harry's words had affected Ginny and stuck up for her at once. Ginny felt a rush of gratitude towards Luna. Harry turned away from them and muttered something that sounded like a swear word.

"Wait," said Hermione suddenly. "Wait… Harry, they can help."

They all looked at her.

"Listen," she said urgently, "Harry, we need to establish whether Sirius really has left headquarters —"

"I've told you, I saw —"

"Harry, I'm begging you, please!" said Hermione desperately. Ginny was listening intently in order to get up to speed. "Please let's just check that Sirius isn't at home before we go charging off to London — if we find out he's not there then I swear I won't try and stop you, I'll come, I'll d-do whatever it takes to try and save him —"

"Sirius is being tortured NOW!" shouted Harry. "We haven't got time to waste —"

"But if this is a trick of V-Voldemort's — Harry, we've got to check, we've got to —"

"How?" Harry demanded. "How're we going to check?"

"We'll have to use Umbridge's fire and see if we can contact him," said Hermione, who looked positively terrified at the thought. Ginny felt like her insides had disappeared. Sirius had left Grimmauld Place and was being tortured? That certainly explained why Harry was frantic. It sounded like he had had another vision. Ginny did her best to remain calm. "We'll draw Umbridge away again, but we'll need lookouts, and that's where we can use Ginny and Luna."

"Yeah, we'll do it," said Ginny without thinking.

"When you say 'Sirius,' are you talking about Stubby Boardman?" said Luna.

Nobody answered her. Ginny glanced at Luna nervously, thinking she may have been totally out of line by roping her into this, but Luna made no objection, either verbally or otherwise. Ginny was fully aware that she had likely agreed to something completely reckless, but Harry was her weakness. She was at the point where she would do anything for him, especially when he was distraught like this. Shifting her focus to Hermione's comment about needing lookouts, she racked her brains for all the stuff Fred and George mentioned they had planned to do to cause mayhem over the course of the year.

"Okay," Harry said aggressively to Hermione, "Okay, if you can think of a way of doing this quickly, I'm with you, otherwise I'm going to the Department of Mysteries right now —"

"The Department of Mysteries?" said Luna, looking mildly surprised. "But how are you going to get there?"

Again, she was ignored. Ginny's feeling that she was being reckless intensified, but she wasn't necessarily regretting getting herself involved yet. Luna, maybe… but not herself. She had to help him save Sirius. If that meant going to the Department of Mysteries, then so be it. Luna had shown nothing but interest so far, however, which made Ginny feel a bit better.

"Right," said Hermione, twisting her hands together and pacing up and down between the desks. "Right… well… One of us has to go and find Umbridge and — and send her off in the wrong direction, keep her away from her office. They could tell her — I don't know — that Peeves is up to something awful as usual…"

"I'll do it," said Ron. "I'll tell her Peeves is smashing up the Transfiguration department or something, it's miles away from her office. Come to think of it, I could probably persuade Peeves to do it if I met him on the way…"

"Okay," said Hermione, her brow furrowed as she continued to pace. "Now, we need to keep students away from her office while we force entry, or some Slytherin's bound to go and tip her off…"

"Luna and I can stand at either end of the corridor," said Ginny promptly, "and warn people not to go down there because someone's let off a load of Garroting Gas." It was the last thing the twins had mentioned to her before leaving and was therefore the freshest in her mind. Hermione looked surprised at the readiness with which Ginny had come up with the lie. Ginny shrugged and quickly explained where the idea had come from, feeling pleased with herself.

"Okay," said Hermione, "well then, Harry, you and I will be under the Invisibility Cloak, and we'll sneak into the office and you can talk to Sirius —"

"He's not there, Hermione!"

"I mean, you can — can check whether Sirius is at home or not while I keep watch, I don't think you should be in there alone, Lee's already proved the window's a weak spot, sending those nifflers through it."

"I… okay, thanks," Harry muttered, who suddenly seemed a bit regretful for having shouting at them.

"Right, well, even if we do all of that, I don't think we're going to be able to bank on more than five minutes," said Hermione, looking relieved that Harry seemed to have accepted the plan, "not with Filch and the wretched Inquisitorial Squad floating around."

"Five minutes'll be enough," said Harry. "C'mon, let's go —"

"Now?" said Hermione, looking shocked. Ginny didn't understand — didn't Harry say Sirius was being tortured? When exactly did she think would be the right time to act? Next week?

"Of course now!" said Harry angrily, his temper flaring up again, and Ginny felt relieved she was not alone in thinking Hermione was crazy. "What did you think, we're going to wait until after dinner or something? Hermione, Sirius is being tortured right now!"

"I — oh all right," she said desperately. "You go and get the Invisibility Cloak and we'll meet you at the end of Umbridge's corridor, okay?"

Harry didn't answer but tore out of the room and down the hall, which everyone took to be a "yes".

"Okay, then," said Hermione, who was very pale. "Let's go…"

They hurried off to the third-floor corridor where Umbridge's office was located.

"You sure you're okay with this, Luna?" Ginny muttered quietly, for there were a lot of students walking nearby. "I got carried away, I shouldn't have gotten you involved without asking first…"

"It's okay," said Luna. "I want to help Harry, same as you. Isn't this why we did the D.A.?"

Ginny had almost forgotten Luna was no stranger to breaking rules. She was also an avid Ministry-hater and conspiracy theorist.

"I suppose so, yes," said Ginny with a strained smile.

"I promise I just see Harry as a friend," Luna added abruptly. "I just want to help because he's my friend. And you're my friend too. I want you two to be together, you seem so perfect for each other."

"Oh," said Ginny awkwardly, blushing. Luna did not need to say this; Ginny had never considered even for a second that she fancied him. She always thought Luna, like Hermione, fancied Ron. "Right, thanks. Well, someone should clue Harry in to that fact."

"Come on you two," snapped Hermione, who didn't hear what they were saying but noticed their expressions didn't reflect the situation. "This is really serious. We need a plan in case things don't go right."

"We are taking this seriously, Hermione," Ginny assured her.

"Right, well, we need a signal if Umbridge is coming," said Hermione. "Any suggestions?"

"How about a loud chorus of 'Weasley is Our King'?" said Ron with a slight smile.

"That's good," said Hermione. "That's probably the best we can do — oh good, here he comes."

Harry was hurtling down the corridor carrying his silvery Invisibility Cloak.

"Got it," he panted. "Ready to go, then?"

"All right," whispered Hermione as a gang of loud sixth years passed them. "So Ron — you go and head Umbridge off… Ginny, Luna, if you can start moving people out of the corridor… Harry and I will get the cloak on and wait until the coast is clear…"

They all did as they were told. Ginny hurried off to one end of the corridor, making her way through the bustling students. She and Luna began spreading the lie about the Garroting Gas as Hermione and Harry disappeared under the Invisibility Cloak. Students began grumbling at the news and one said, "I can't see no gas…"

"That's because it's colorless," said Ginny, as though explaining to a five-year-old, "but if you want to walk through it, carry on, then we'll have your body as proof for the next idiot who didn't believe us…"

Slowly but surely the corridor cleared out.

"Good one," Hermione whispered from somewhere nearby. "Don't forget the signal…"

Everything went according to plan for a few minutes, but as she turned to warn an oncoming student about the gas, something caught her around the ankles and she fell over.