Draco managed a wry smile. "That was lame."

Ginny shrugged. "I thought it was a good analogy." Her face turned serious again. "Look—you're going through something tough. I can tell. And I know that I probably can't sympathize with you, but I'd still like to help."

Draco laughed bitterly. "I think that you could relate better than you think."

Ginny frowned. "What do you mean?" she asked slowly. Draco looked at her for a moment before answering.

"I think you know what's it's like to be controlled against your will."

Ginny's throat tightened, and too quickly, the painful memories of her first year flooded into her mind. She looked at the floor. "So," she said softly. "It's about your father?"

"Something like that."

"Want to talk about it?" she said, a little hopefully.

"Later," came the short reply.

Ginny looked at him closely. Was that a brush-off, or did he really mean it? She saw that he was serious. Draco shifted. "This isn't the right time to talk, really," he mumbled.

Ginny nodded. "Right—right."

They stood there for a little while, not saying anything, both studying each other when they thought the other wasn't looking. Ginny wasn't about to argue that Draco was the most fascinating boy she had ever seen. A strong jaw line, a stern profile, and narrowed eyes. He looked dangerous, and she knew he was. But somehow she didn't feel threatened.

Neither seemed quite sure about what to do then. Draco rubbed his arms uncomfortably to keep them warm.

"So…thanks for the warning," Draco said. "I'll…figure out something to do."

Ginny looked up. "Well—you're a prefect, aren't you? Can't you change the password?"

Draco shook his head, causing a small volume of hair to ripple. "No, it has to be a unanimous decision between all the prefects in the house. They take the password to Dumbledore, so he always knows. That's the only way it works."

"Oh. Can't you warn your house?"

"That's depending on whether or not I can even wake them up. They're dead to the world right now."

Ginny thought. "An anti-hex spell?"

Draco considered that for a second, and then he grinned. Ginny was shocked at the difference it made in his face. He seemed younger, more vigorous. "How about—" Draco said, and Ginny was already poised to say yes, just to keep him smiling—

"An anti-anti hex?"

That snapped her out of it. "A what?"

"An anti-anti hex. In other words, a hex."

"A hex on…" Then she caught the glint in Draco's eyes and it registered. "Ambush?"

Draco nodded energetically. "Yes! But—" He caught the doubtful look on her face—"would you be willing to help?"

Ginny snorted. "You know, they never asked me that when they roped me into their little prank."

"What?"

"Don't look at me like that. I said no. I thought it was going a little too far, doing this. Us finding out the password was completely by accident, like I said. Why else would I be coming here?"

Draco relaxed. "Alright. And if I see that parrot, I'm blasting it."

"Only to maim. That's my semester grade."

"Fine." A beat. "So what do we do?"

Ginny shrugged, and then her face split into the same wide grin Draco was wearing. He looked a little surprised to see it there, obviously fascinated by the way it lit up her whole face and made her eyes sparkle, even in the dark. "Well, if it helps, Ron and Harry were planning to pull a Canary Cream on the lot of you…" She considered. "How about a back-firing spell? They've got their plan all rigged up so that you would all turn into canaries right as you walked into breakfast, and stay like that the whole day. If we turn it around on them…"

Draco looked almost admiring. "Perfect."

Ginny felt flattered, until she slapped her forehead. Draco blinked at her, and she hissed, "Crap! I have to return this…" she gestured to the cloak. "But how am I going to get back?"

Draco narrowed his eyes. "It's Potter's?"

Ginny stiffened, and nodded. She searched Draco's eyes questioningly.

"I won't say anything. I have one too."

Ginny smiled in relief. "Thank you." Draco didn't say anything, but just turned his gaze to a point beyond her. His cheeks were a little flushed.

"I'll, ah, be right back with it." He said quietly, and slipped out the door. It seemed like half an hour before he returned, and Ginny kept glancing nervously at her watch. Harry and Ron would probably wake up pretty soon, and find the Invisibility Cloak missing…would they put two and two together?

She was a little startled when Draco slid back in. She hadn't heard him. He moved like a cat.

He unfolded the cloak under his arm and spread it open for her. She looked at him. To tell the truth, and she hated herself for sounding girlish, but she didn't want to go back through those halls again. She was by no means afraid of the dark, but going through those corridors at night was enough to rattle anybody's nerves. The ghostly silence chilled to the bone.

Draco sensed Ginny's hesitancy, and answered by draping both of them. It was plenty big enough to cover the both of them and there was plenty of room, but Ginny still blushed as her elbow brushed Draco's arm.

They went quickly. Ginny made sure that Draco's ears were firmly plugged and his back turned when she whispered the password. He knew where the entrance was, of course, after all, he had done some sleuthing himself in previous years. "There was no sense in letting your brother and Potter have all the fun," he'd explained, and Ginny had shrugged.

Draco waited outside, wearing the cloak, while Ginny slipped in, put back the cloak in its exact place in Harry's trunk, and slipped out. He'd had to pinch the Fat Lady to keep her awake, and her eyes darted around wildly, looking for whoever that had disturbed her sleep.

Ginny came back out and Draco tossed part of the cloak over her head before the Fat Lady could spot her, and they hurried away.

They worked quickly then, setting up their little trap. It was quite a job. Basically, they had to rig it so that any spell fired in the whole common room would immediately backfire and turn around on the person who cast it. Of course, that would have to be lifted right after Ron and Harry left smugly, so that people weren't turning themselves into ferrets or buttons.

And then all that was left to do was wait. Ginny and Draco sat in a corner of the room, the Cloak draped over them both, and waited for the two to arrive. Ginny glanced at her watch again for the hundredth time. Fifteen minutes, approximately.

Draco noticed her nerves. "Why are you so worried?" he whispered.

"Three reasons. One, I just broke dozens of school rules; two, I'm setting up my brother and his best friend for a fall; and three, there's always a chance that this isn't going to work."

"It'll work."

"Fine. That's just two reasons, then."

Draco grinned. He couldn't help it, he liked the girl's spunk. This wasn't the first time he had noticed it, of course. It had been around his fifth year, her fourth, when she had finally started getting out of her Potter funk. He hadn't noticed her, and she was sick of trying. So she had started hanging around others. Not the giggling twits that seemed to inhabit her particular age group, but older, more advanced students. They accepted her, and now when she laughed, it was genuine.

Ginny had let go of her childish crush, and had matured mentally and physically. Draco could not deny that she had turned into a pretty young woman. Not outstandingly glamorous, which Draco thought was gaudy anyway, but more of a natural beauty. There was something very real about her. And Draco had not experienced many real people.

The two had unconsciously drawn considerably close, and their arms brushed. They both jumped at the contact, but neither moved away. Suddenly, Ginny's attention wasn't on her watch anymore. She had only aimed to glance at him briefly, for no longer than a split second, but found that she couldn't tear her eyes away. The same happened for him, and they were locked.

They drew closer, and it seemed to Ginny that they were still a mile apart when their lips met. She wasn't going to say that it was heavenly, but it was something very close. She closed her eyes, and it was a long moment before they parted. They were about to close the gap again when they both heard a scuffling, and the passage for the Slytherin common room shifted open. Ginny couldn't see anyone, but she didn't doubt that Harry and Ron were under the cloak. There was some shuffling, and Ron muttered thickly, "How did George say it went…oh, right. Canarius Fanus!"

"Did it work?" Harry whispered.

"Yeah, I think so. Remember, it's set to go off around breakfast." Ginny and Draco both had to smother their laughs.

"Right." A pause. "Remind me to borrow Colin's camera."

After they had left, Draco turned to Ginny. "You can borrow mine," he said. Ginny grinned, and kissed him again.

The next morning, a shriek came from the Gryffindor table. Harry Potter and Ron Weasley had burst out in full canary bloom, one right after the other. Yellow feathers flew everywhere, and Ginny plucked one out of her pumpkin juice with disgust. She then discreetly brought up her camera and clicked.

"Nice one," she whispered.

"Awwwk! Hey, baby, I'm baaaack! Awk!"

::grin:: Heh.