The Hospital Wing and the Astronomy Tower, the Sequel

That evening, after Harry had finished his homework, he left Gryffindor Tower to meet Blaise out in the grounds. She'd told him to come to the Quidditch pitch at eight o' clock, and it was now ten minutes to eight.

Harry hurried down the corridor, and jogged down the stairs. He walked the so very familiar path down to the Entrance Hall, his mind flooded with memories as he passed familiar places (though he had not yet taken a Dream Tracing Potion as they need two weeks to prepare). He remembered the corridor in which he had asked Cho to the Yule Ball the first time, when she had told him she was going with Cedric. He passed the staircase where he had made Cedric's bag rip open, so that Harry could tell him the hint about the first task in the Triwizard Tournament.

Finally, Harry reached the Entrance Hall and exited the castle through the oak front doors. He jogged down to the Quidditch pitch, and sure enough, there was Blaise, standing alone.

"It's about time," she said, walking towards him.

"It's still one minute to eight," said Harry, putting his arms around her waist. "I'm early."

"I've been waiting ages," said Blaise.

"I'm not worth waiting for," said Harry. "You shouldn't have wasted your time."

"Stop with the nonsense," said Blaise. "I'd wait for you forever. And besides, I just can't stop thinking about you."

"Same," said Harry.

Blaise frowned. "You can't stop thinking about yourself?" she said.

"I meant you," said Harry, leaning down to kiss her.

Blaise leaned into the kiss, suddenly remembering she hadn't kissed him for an entire day and a half, and it felt good. "Don't ever make me wait that long again," she said, once they finally parted.

"I didn't ask you to," said Harry. "We agreed to meet at eight. It could've been seven, but you distinctly said eight. And now we're both missing dinner."

"I know that," said Blaise. "That's why we're going to eat out here."

"Are we?" said Harry, looking around.

"Yes, we're going to eat grass, and we'll drink from the lake," said Blaise.

"Or we could just go down to the kitchens and get something proper to eat," said Harry.

"What's wrong with grass and water?" asked Blaise.

"That's what cows eat," said Harry.

"No, Pansy eats horse meat, silly," said Blaise.

"Normal cows," said Harry.

"What's normal about cows?" said Blaise.

"We're going to the kitchens," said Harry, leading Blaise back to the castle by the hand.

They walked into the castle and straight down the corridor in which the entrance to the kitchens was located. Harry tickled the pear on the painting of fruit which led to the kitchens, and turned the handle which the pear transformed into.

The moment they stepped inside, the house elves hurried up to them with platters of delicious looking food.

"Can Billinicky get you kind sirs something more?"

"I hopes you like them, baked them myself."

"Dobby is not here to see Harry Potter, but I tell him you come by."

Harry and Blaise accepted a few plates of food from the elves before bidding goodbye and heading outside again.

"Well, that was interesting, wasn't it?" said Blaise. "Wasn't Dobby Draco's old house elf?"

"Er, yeah," said Harry, sitting down on the grass.

Blaise sat down also. "Then why would he care if you'd stopped by?" she asked.

"Er, we're sort of friends," Harry replied.

Blaise shook her head. "That's ridiculous."

Harry and Blaise ate their meals, laughing and talking happily. They got caught up on events which occurred throughout the summer, which wasn't really much.

Nobody bothered them out there, and before they knew it, it was half past nine.

"It's getting late," said Blaise.

"Yeah, it is," said Harry, getting to his feet. "Maybe we should go?"

Blaise stood up as well. "It was nice," she said. "We don't get to spend much time together anymore."

"No, we don't," Harry sighed.

They walked hand in hand back to Hogwarts castle, and once they had entered the empty Entrance Hall, Harry kissed Blaise good night, and they went their separate ways.

Harry treaded the path he knew so well back to Gryffindor Tower. When he reached the portrait of the Fat Lady, he said the password 'Hypervelocity' (chosen by Hermione), and entered the common room.

Ron and Hermione were in the common room, playing wizard's chess.

"Ha! I got you!" Hermione cried out, as Harry approached them.

"Yeah! You won, Hermione," said Ron. "Isn't that lovely."

"You let me win, didn't you?" said Hermione. "Ron, I told you to stop doing that! I'll never learn if you don't let me try!"

Ron kissed Hermione's cheek. "Okay, we'll play again," he said. "And I won't let you win this time."

"Is that a promise?" Hermione asked.

Ron smiled and nodded.

Hermione set the chess board up for another game.

"Harry, do you want to play the winner of this match?" said Ron, acknowledging Harry's presence.

"Go on, then," said Harry, sitting down. "But I'm only playing one game."

Just then, Verity came running into the common room, Seamus directly behind her.

"Seamus! Stop it!" Verity cried out, giggling.

Seamus was laughing so hard he almost didn't notice when he walked straight into Rachel Bell. "Oh, sorry," he said, before charging forwards and tackling Verity.

"You little monkey!" Verity cried.

"Will you two shut up?" Lavender snapped. "We're trying to study." She gestured around the table she was sitting at which was scattered with papers, where Parvati, along with the sixth year girls excluding Ginny and Rachel were also sitting.

"Sorry," said Verity.

Seamus laughed. "Maybe we should go outside," he suggested. "That way, we won't be disturbing any prima donnas."Â

"Okay," said Verity, getting to her feet. She and Seamus exited the common room through the portrait of the Fat Lady, who was by this time, rather grumpy.

As soon as they left, Ginny arrived inside the common room. Lavender and company broke into a fresh wave of whispers upon seeing Ginny.

"Oy, Ginny!" A fifth year boy named Norton called. "Can you help me with my Potions essay?"

Ginny approached Norton. "Yeah, of course," she said. "What's it on?"

"Er, Wolfsbane," said Norton. "It asks for five uses of Wolfsbane, and I can only come up with one."

"How many uses could there be?" Ginny asked, confused. "I don't remember this from last year..."

In the meantime, Rachel Bell and Lavender Brown exited the Gryffindor common room and headed down to the dungeons to the location which they approximated was near the Slytherin common room entrance.

They paused outside a portrait of an evil looking wizard.

"Think this is it?" Rachel asked, pulling a camera out of her pocket.

"Well, where else would their entrance be?" said Lavender. "Now you go hide behind the shadows while I wait for Malfoy. Don't take any photos until I give you the signal."

"Why can't you take the pictures?" Rachel whined.

"I dumped Seamus for this," said Lavender. "I have this right."

Rachel sighed and went reluctantly to lurk behind a suit of armour.

Lavender stood against a wall to wait. She waited at least twenty minutes before she heard footsteps coming down the corridor. Unfortunately for her, it was Blaise Zabini, who stopped when she saw Lavender.

"What are you doing here?" said Blaise.

"Er, standing," said Lavender. "What are you doing here?"

"Prefect patrol," said Blaise. "Now get lost, dirty Gryffindor."

"Why?" asked Lavender. "Are you hiding something?"

"No," said Blaise. "And you're nowhere near the entrance to Slytherin."

"W-what?" said Lavender. "W-w-why would I w-want to be near Slytherin?"

"Because, dirty Gryffindor," said Blaise, "You're up to something. Now get to bed before I deduct points." And with that, she stalked off down the corridor, but not before she smirked at Rachel, who was hiding behind a suit of armour.

Lavender took a deep breath, but other than that, didn't move, instead, waited patiently.

In the next fifteen minutes or so, Crabbe and Goyle, Millicent and Pansy, and a few third years walked passed Lavender, not noticing her.

At long last, Draco Malfoy came strolling down the corridor alone.

Lavender smiled; such luck.

As Draco passed her, she stuck out her arm and grabbed his sleeve. "Good evening, Malfoy," she said.

"Ah, sod off," Draco grumbled.

Lavender pulled Draco towards her.

"Oy, don't you touch me," said Draco.

Lavender signaled Rachel to start taking pictures with a thumbs up.

"Get your Mudblood hands off me," Draco snapped. "What the Hell d'you think you're doing?"

Lavender leaned in and planted a kiss on Draco's mouth.

"Draco! What the Hell?!" Blaise, who had just come back down the corridor, shrieked.

"This- this Mudblood!" Draco shouted. He quickly ran behind Blaise, as if using her as a shield against Lavender.

"Didn't I tell you to go to bed?" Blaise snapped at Lavender. "Harry's going to hate me for this, but I'm afraid I've got to take twenty points from Gryffindor."

"Take fifty," said Draco. "For being a complete... what's the word I'm looking for?"

"Mudblood," said Blaise.

"That's not fair!" cried Rachel, stepping out from the shadows. "You can't take points from someone just because they aren't pure blood!"

"What would you know, Mudblood?" said Draco.

"I'm a pure blood," said Rachel. "And I'll report you for this injustice!"

"Don't use words you don't know the meaning of," said Draco.

Rachel made a noise of frustration.

"Right, we're going," said Blaise, "and when I come back, if you're still here, I will hang you by your thumbs and have Seamus Finnigan watch you suffer."

Draco and Blaise turned to go, heading down the corridor to their common room.

"We'll just develop those pictures and show Ginny," said Lavender. "And we'll tell her he was trying to rape me."

"In Hogwarts?" said Rachel.

The two girls began to leave, as Kiera came jogging towards them. She slowed down as she approached. "Ginny," she gasped. "Ginny's coming; I tried to follow her, but I didn't find her anywhere."

"She must have found a secret passage," said Lavender. "Or maybe she wasn't even coming here."

"But she was nowhere," said Kiera. "People don't just vanish like that."

"Let's just go," said Rachel. "If that Blaise Zabini comes down here again, we're dead."

"Empty threats, Rach," said Lavender. "That's all she is."

"No, I don't think so," said Rachel. "She once told Colin she'd tear his arm off if he tried to take another picture of Harry, and the next day, she almost did just that."

"Oh, was that why he was in the hospital wing for two weeks last year?" said Kiera. "He told me it was a Quidditch accident."

"Let's just get out of here," said Lavender.

***

Blaise and Draco stopped in front of a bare stone wall.

"Glindernut," said Blaise, and the wall slid aside, leaving a space for them to walk through.

"Who came up with that, anyway?" said Draco, as they stepped into the common room. "It's a ridiculous password."

"I thought you did," said Blaise. "It wasn't me."

"Probably one of the sixth years," said Draco. "Good night." He walked off down to his own bedroom, leaving Blaise to go to her own room.

Draco opened the door to his room and stepped inside, closing the door behind him. When he turned to face his bed, he almost had a heart attack because there was someone sitting on it.

Ginny was sitting in the middle of Draco's bed, fully dressed.

"What are you doing here?" said Draco, smirking.

"It's a long story," said Ginny.

Draco pulled off his shirt. "Tell me about it," he said.

"I'm a little scared to sleep in Gryffindor Tower," said Ginny. "I'm afraid Colin will come and watch me while I'm asleep."

"Knowing him, he'd take pictures," said Draco, opening the door to his bathroom. "I'll be right back," he said, before disappearing into the bathroom.

Not long after, Draco re-emerged from the bathroom, now wearing only a pear of flannel pajamas. Ginny was a little surprised because she'd always thought he wore silk or something else exquisite to sleep in.

Draco sat down beside Ginny. "So it's Creevey who's bothering you?" he said.

Ginny turned to face him. "If he was bothering me, what would you do about it?" she said.

Draco raised his eyebrow. "Bothering you in what way?" he asked.

"Just," said Ginny. "What would you do?"

"I don't know," said Draco. "Take his camera and shove it up his-"

"Oh stop it," Ginny interrupted. "That's just disgusting."

"But then he'd never lose his camera," said Draco. "It'll be right there, and he take pictures of himself on the toilet, I'm sure Creevey has the skills for that."

"Draco," said Ginny.

Draco wrapped his arms around Ginny and pulled her back towards him. Ginny leaned into his slender form.

"Is Creevey bothering you?" said Draco.

"A little, yes," said Ginny. "He's saying he'll tell Ron about when he found us this morning."

Draco smirked. "Doesn't Ron hate Creevey?" he asked.

"Not as much as he hates you," said Ginny, pointedly. "And I really don't want my brother to be on Colin's side."

"Sounds like a situation for Blaise," said Draco.

"How so?" said Ginny, twisting her neck to look at Draco. Once again, she got a little shock when she noticed how much he looked like his father.

"You get to make people act like pawns," said Draco. "You tell Ron Colin's bothering you, and then I'll help Ron kick Creevey's little arse."

"I don't see how that works," said Ginny.

"Yeah, me neither," said Draco. "But it'll get rid of Creevey, won't it?"

"I suppose you're right," said Ginny.

"Yeah, I'm always right," said Draco. "Now here's an odd sort of question, how do you propose to get out of here tomorrow morning?"

"I have a study block," said Ginny. "I don't have to go to it."

"Isn't that a coincidence," said Draco. "So do I."

Ginny smiled. "I've already got plans for the morning, though," she said.

"I'll join you," said Draco. "Unless you've something to hide?"

"No, actually, maybe you could help me," said Ginny. "See, there's this stupid thing called the Gossip Union, and they go around making up tabloids."

Draco chuckled. "Don't tell me you're wanting to join them?" he said.

"No," said Ginny. "I'm wanting to beat them."

"So you've got to go scrape up a piece of conversation better than all theirs," said Draco.

"Exactly," Ginny said. "But the only problem is, so far, I've got nothing. I was snooping about this morning, and then I ran into you, and well, you know the rest."

"So we're spending the morning tomorrow snooping about the place, looking for something to talk about," said Draco. "Sounds entertaining."

"Yeah," said Ginny. "And we've got a camera too."

"I say we go around inventing gossip," said Draco. "People love to talk about Potter, why don't we take a few questionable photos of him, and make up a story."

"Or we could pick on someone else," Ginny suggested.

"You've still got a soft spot for Potter," said Draco. "That's just... pathetic."

"Shut up," said Ginny. "And anyway, if we invented something up about Harry, Blaise would get mad, and who knows what she'll do."

"There's an idea," said Draco. "We get everyone involved, your brother, the Mudblood, Potter, Blaise, Verity, Finnigan, and... Thomas, Patil..."

"Parvati's already involved," said Ginny.

"All right then, Pansy, Millicent, all the other Slytherin girls," said Draco. "Crabbe and Goyle. Oh, there's a fine story, Crabbe and Goyle, acquaintances by day, lovers by night."

"That's what you think," Ginny mumbled. "You haven't seen one of their day time affection displays. Brutal."

"I don't need to know," said Draco.

"All right, but you're defeating the whole purpose of this gossip thing," said Ginny. "It doesn't work when the whole school's involved."

"Fine," said Draco. "But just think of the gossip tomorrow morning when you walk out of my room."

"No one will see," said Ginny.

"Is that Rachel Bell a part of the gossip society?" Draco asked.

"Er, yeah," said Ginny. "Why?"

"She hides behind corners taking photos," said Draco. "She probably saw you coming in here. Which brings us to the next matter; how the Hell did you get in here?"

"I borrowed your invisibility cloak," said Ginny.

"How'd you do that?" Draco questioned.

"Wouldn't you like to know?" said Ginny. "But none of that's important right now."

"Are you sure you want to be in the same bed with me?" said Draco. "Because if you're afraid Creevey's going to watch you, I don't see why you've come to sleep with me. I mean, that came out wrong. Sleep in my room."

Ginny giggled. "I don't care if you watch me," she said.

"Why would I want to watch you sleeping?" said Draco.

"Then why did you bring it up?" Ginny said.

"I don't know," said Draco. "You just act like you feel safe with me while you're sleeping. Now why is that?"

"It should be obvious," said Ginny.

"Is it because I don't sicken you out the way every other male in this world does?" said Draco.

"Every other male in the world does not sicken me out," said Ginny. "Just some."

"Like Creevey and Longbottom," said Draco.

"Yeah," said Ginny. She looked at Draco again, wishing he wouldn't look so much like Lucius because it made her uncomfortable to think about Draco being Lucius.

"Why do you keep looking at me like that?" said Draco.

"I-I don't know," said Ginny. "It's nothing."

"It's not nothing," said Draco. "It's definitely something."

"No really," said Ginny. "Don't bother."

"Does this have something to do with... oh, I don't know, your brother?" said Draco. "Or Potter?"

"No, it's not them," said Ginny. "They're getting used to you. To us. It has nothing to do with them."

"It's Lucius, isn't it?" said Draco.

Ginny gasped. How could he possibly know that?

"Look, he's in Azkaban, he's happy, he won't be escaping any time soon," said Draco. "You have nothing to worry about. In fact, he wishes you all the best."

"Does he?" said Ginny, faintly surprised. "Why?"

Draco shrugged. "He's starting to act human," he said. "The Dementors must be sucking the evil out of him."

"Do you miss your mother and father?" Ginny asked.

"Oh yes," said Draco. "But I can visit them whenever I want. Dumbledore gave me permission, just the way he gave Longbottom permission to visit his parents in St. Mungo's."