I turned back to George slowly, suddenly feeling very self conscious. He was sitting next to me on the couch with a small smile on his face. I stared at his face, memorizing every detail as my body began to buzz with anticipation. He raised his left hand and laid it against my cheek, gently stroking my lip with his thumb. The feel of his hand against my cheek was incredible, and caused my brain to grow hazy.

"Would you mind if I kissed you?" he asked softly, eyes locked on mine. I nodded my head ever so slowly, feeling my heart race and my breathing speed up. He tilted his head slightly and worked his right hand into my hair. He leaned towards me slowly, until at last our lips finally touched. It was a good thing I was sitting down because my body seemed to melt in his hands at the feel of his soft warm lips against mine. He smiled against the kiss as I looped my arms around his neck, deepening the kiss. We pulled apart a moment later, breathing heavily. He smiled brightly at me before swooping down and claiming my lips in another kiss. I moved my hands from his neck to his hair, running my hands through the thick ginger locks. I felt his lips open against my mouth and I opened mine, inviting him to deepen the kiss.

BANG

A loud crash sounded behind me and we both jumped. George was off the couch in half a second, standing in front of me with his wand out and aimed at a very nervous looking Neville. He was standing in front of the portrait hole clutching Trevor in his hands as he looked at George in terror. George slowly lowered his wand, but continued to glare at Neville.

I managed to catch my breath and stood up from the couch, smoothing out my now very rumpled shirt, and trying to tame my frizzy hair.

"What are you doing out Neville?" I asked, trying not to sound embarrassed. My cheeks were burning and I knew my entire body must be blushing. Neville's eyes shot from George to me to George again before finally settling on me.

"I lost Trevor and only just found him," he said, stuttering a little as he clutched the toad to his chest. I nodded my head briskly, trying to pull my prefect façade together.

"Fine, well, if you hurry upstairs I won't give you detention or take any points." He nodded his head stiffly before running up the steps to his dormitory. I turned towards George embarrassedly, noting that he looked thoroughly snogged. His hair was mussed from where I had run my hands through it, his lips were swollen, his face was flushed, and his shirt was rumpled.

Merlin, what must Neville have thought? We were lying on a couch at midnight, clearly having snogged…

George let out a sound that sounded suspiciously like suppressed laughter.

"What on earth do you find so funny Mr. Weasley?" I questioned, placing my hands on my hips. He laughed out loud at that, throwing his head back and letting out deep belly laughs that sent a thrill of joy through me. I found myself joining his care free laughter despite my best efforts at remaining stern.

"I think," he finally managed, tears of mirth falling down his gorgeous blue eyes. "That we may have scarred Mr. Longbottom for life." He gripped his chest as another laughing fit caught him.

"He really thought you were going to hex him!" I exclaimed, wiping the happy tears from my eyes. George smiled happily as he managed to regain control of his laughter. His eyes were sparkling and he looked happier than I'd seen him in a long time, since before Umbridges regime started.

"If he'd walked in a minute earlier I might have. However, since I actually did get to kiss you I think I can forgive him." I blushed at that, lowering my eyes in embarrassment. George reached out and gently tugged one of my curls, fingering it in his hand before gently forcing my chin up to look at him.

''Would you mind if I tell people we're together now?" he asked softly. I was lost in his eyes and barely had the brain power left to nod my head. He grinned widely at that before claiming my lips again. he broke it a minute later, resting his head against my forehead.

"We should go to bed," I said quietly, staring at his lips longingly. He agreed softly, his voice sounding like he didn't want to.

I reached up to him and gave him one last peck on the lips before turning around and grabbing my book off the table. I then turned back around and ran up the steps to my dormitory.

I woke up early the next day, feeling distinctly satisfied and happy. I couldn't remember why, until my hand flew to my lips as the memory of George's kiss filled me. I got dressed in my uniform, wishing it made me look nicer, that it was more flattering, but feeling a slight thrill that at least everyone had to wear it. I made my way down to the common room to find it full of people getting ready to head for breakfast. Harry and Ron were near the front, talking in hushed whispers. I made to join them, but I was held back by an arm that draped around my waist. I looked over and up and saw George smiling down at me with a big grin. I wrapped my arm around his waist, feeling bold and scandalous at the act. He looked momentarily surprised by my boldness but promptly broke out in a grin.

We headed off to the Great hall, keeping our eyes wide open for any sign of Umbridge. We didn't see her, and I was extremely grateful for that because I had no intention of not breaking decree 75.

We settled down on the long table the same way we had before, Fred, George, Me, Harry, and Ron. The Prophet came right as I started to eat so I opened it up and started to read it. My mouth fell open in horror as I read the morning news.

"What?" Harry, Ron, and George asked together.

I laid the newspaper in front of me, moving a bowl of eggs to do so, and pointed at the front cover. They read the bold headline, and realized the same horror I had. Ten more death eaters had just joined Voldmort. No one in the rest of the hall seemed to care about this horrible news besides the head table. It was just the five of us who even seemed to notice.

"Black?" Harry asked loudly. I shushed him frantically, looking around the table to see that no one was listening.

Ron gave Harry a pointed look before speaking. "There you are Harry, that's why he was happy last night." What? Had Harry seen Voldmort's mind again? Why on Earth had no one told me?

"I don't believe this!" Harry snarled, not giving me a chance to get onto him for not telling us. "Fudge is blaming the breakout on Sirius?"

"Of course he is," George said bitterly, glaring at the newspaper. "He can't exactly say, 'Sorry, looks like Dumbledore and Harry were right when they warned me that You-Know-Who was back and now the Dementors have joined him.'"

"Exactly," I said, feeling a slight thrill that George had come to the same conclusion as I had. "He's spent a good six months telling everyone you're crazy liars." I grabbed the newspaper back upand began to read further, trying to get a handle on just how bad things had suddenly gotten.

"Oh my…" I said, reading about the death of Broderich Bode.

"What is it?" George asked immediately, looking warily at the paper.

"It's… horrible," I said. I laid the paper down again, this time on the article about the death of Bode. I was feeling sick. I'd seen the healers bring that plant in. Why hadn't I recognized it? They'd murdered a man right under my nose!

"We saw him," I said, explaining to George just why I found this so horrible. "We were at St. Mungo's and he was in the bed opposite Lockhart, just lying there. We saw the Devil's Snare arrive. The healer said it was a Christmas present."

"Why didn't we recognize Devil's Snare?" Harry whispered, the horror I felt obvious in his voice as well. "We've seen it before…we could've stopped this from happening."

"Who expects Devil's Snare to turn up in a hospital disquised as a potted plant?" Ron exclaimed sharply while George grabbed my hand under the table. I smiled gratefully at him and willed myself not to cry.

"It's not our fault," Ron continued. "Whoever sent it to the bloke is to blame! They must be a real prat. Why didn't they check what they were buying?"

"Really Ron?" Fred asked, staring at his brother like he couldn't believe they were related. "It obviously wasn't an accident. You can't touch Devil's Snare with out it trying to kill you. You can't mistake it for a potted plant." Ron looked at him without comprehension, clearly missing the point. I sighed and opened my mouth to speak but George beat me to it.

"It was murder Ron, a right clever one too."

"Yes," I said, feeling even more horrified about the murder. "They won't be able to tell who sent it if it was anonymous."

"I met Bode," Harry said suddenly. We all turned towards him with surprise. "I saw him at the ministry with your Dad." Ron's mouth fell open in shock. Harry and Ron both kept talking, but my eyes had drifted back to the students. Something I had thought about earlier in the year came back to me, and I knew now was the time to do it. These students needed to know the truth, and I was the only one who might be able to get it to them. I grabbed the paper and hopped up from the bench, taking my bag with me. I only had a few minutes before transfiguration, and I needed to send this letter before time.

"Where are you going?" George and Ron asked at the same time. I paused momentarily, feeling slightly awkward before I answered George

"To send a letter. It . . . well, I don't know whether . . . but it's worth trying . . . and I'm the only one who can." I knew that didn't really explain anything, but I couldn't give away the plan until I knew Rita Skeeter would do it for sure.

The next days passed alarmingly fast. I sent the letter to Rita, with no reply coming. The amount of homework we were expected to do increased dramatically, so that we could only fit in one DA meeting, and that was at the end of the month. I hadn't gotten to spend near enough time with George. Even he was having to work hard to stay afloat with school, plus he and Fred were inventing a new product almost every other day. The only time we got to spend with each other was at night on my rounds. He would bring the cloak and wear it while I roamed the halls, talking to me whenever anyone wasn't around. Every once in a while he would pull me into some secret passage way I hadn't noticed and snog me senseless for a few minutes before we had to leave. I also hadn't gotten to talk to Ron, but I was starting to think I didn't need to. He hadn't said anything negative to me, and had actually started flirting with Lavender Brown. I found that very amusing, as I knew Lavender had been crushing on him since third year. They made an odd couple, but who knew? Maybe they could pull it off.

So it was with great relief and joy that I found myself heading down the corridors to the Room of Requirements. Harry had promised us we could start on Patronuses, and I was looking forward to learning it more than anything else we'd learned. I entered the room, surprised to find it mostly full. I saw George sitting in our usual spot and I joined him quickly, sitting beside him. I started to chat happily to him, taking his hand in mine and scooting near him so that our legs were touching, and I was leaning into him. I couldn't be this near him any other time; Umbridge was starting to come down hard with those stupid decrees. I felt a whoosh to my right and looked over to see Terry Boot sitting next to me, a huge grin on his face. George tensed next to me and I would have sworn he actually growled.

"Hey, Love," Terry said, leaning towards me with a wink. "What's say you be my memory?"

Oh dear.

Thanks to a Ninja Goldfish for taking the time to beta this chapter.