A/N: Thanks again you guys for the great response! Only one chapter left after this one!!! Enjoy!!
Also, please forgive us (namely Heaven) for her attempt at Seamus's Irish accent. Just trying to make things a little more authentic!
A Little Help From My Friends - The Beatles
What do I do when my love is away.
(does it worry you to be alone)
How do I feel by the end of the day
(are you sad because you're on your own)
No I get by with a little help from my friends,
Do you need anybody,
I need somebody to love.
Could it be anybody
I want somebody to love.
Ginny watched with satisfaction as Harry flew off on his broomstick while Hermione wiped at her eyes and headed off in the direction of the guest cabins.
"I can't believe it worked!" she whispered gleefully. Ginny spent a few more minutes revelling in the sneakiness of her well timed plan and then headed for Draco's cabin.
"Hey baby," she said, sliding into the room. "Miss me?"
"That fucking bitch," Draco spat. "I'm still sore over her little trick!"
"What's wrong?" Ginny asked, concerned as she rubbed his shoulders.
"Lavender didn't take my breaking up with her very well," Draco smirked.
"Poor girl," Ginny slid her arms over his chest as she kissed the side of his neck. "What did she do?"
"Bloody kneed me," Draco sneered.
"Awww…" Ginny moved around to his front. "Do you need a bit of… therapy?" she asked with a glint in her eye.
"You're in an awfully good mood," Draco replied instead. "I take it our plan…"
"Worked like a charm," Ginny laughed. "A very sneaky, nasty charm…" she giggled as Draco brushed his lips over hers. "They can't say I didn't warn them."
Draco kissed her in reply, his hands making quick work of removing her shirt. "You being evil turns me on- I never thought a Weasley could be as sneaky as you are."
"You've underestimated me then," Ginny let her head fall back as his lips moved down her skin. "I can be just as underhanded as a Malfoy."
Draco grinned as his mouth slid along her throat. He pulled away as he looked into her brown eyes. "I love you…" he said it so quietly she almost didn't hear him.
"I know," Ginny replied, her tone just as soft as she ran her fingers through his hair. "I love you as well."
*** *** ***
Lavender yawned and she snapped her eyes open as she remembered the details of the previous night. After her uncle and Hermione had left the dinner table, she and her aunt and made excuses and headed back to the cabin, only to see Hermione hugging Robert then running off.
Robert had told them of his talk with Hermione and Lavender was happy that her cousin would finally get to be open about her relationship with Harry. She looked forward to having her uncle talk to Harry and see what he was really like.
Then Hermione had returned an hour later, sans Harry, her eyes swollen and red. She'd taken one look at her family gathered in the small living room and ran into the bedroom, sobbing her heart out on the comforter.
Lavender turned over now to see Hermione's bed was already empty and made neatly. "Where'd you go…" she mumbled, pushing her tangled blonde hair out of her eyes. She showered and dressed quickly, going out to see if her cousin was still in the cabin.
"Hi," she said, stepping onto the porch outside. Hermione was sitting on the ledge, blankly staring out at the forest.
"Hi…" Hermione's voice was quiet and scratchy. She cleared her throat. "Sorry…"
"It's all right," Lavender perched next to her gingerly. "Are… are you all right? What happened yesterday?"
Hermione was silent a few minutes and then the story poured out of her like a waterfall of words. "I want to kill her Lavender," she said, her eyes tearing over again. "That stupid bloody bitch… I want to make her life as miserable as she's suddenly made mine."
"Hermione…" Lavender said hesitantly. "There's one problem… I asked Vernon after you and your dad left if Ginny told and he said no… he wouldn't say who it was but it was someone he trusts on the staff." She moved closer to her cousin.
"It was someone she knows then," Hermione snapped. "Because of Ginny, Harry's gone! I don't know when or where I'm going to see him again!"
Lavender pulled her cousin close to her as Hermione broke out in sobs again. "Hermione… if it makes you feel any better… at least now you don't have to put up with your dad pushing Dudley on you anymore…"
Hermione managed a small smile. "Yeah… every cloud has its silver lining right?"
"Right," Lavender stroked her cousin's hair. "It'll get better Hermione, I promise."
"I hate feeling like this. It's worse than before Lav. This time he's gone. I can't go to his cabin and make things better." Hermione pulled away from her cousin. "Is it really all a part of being in love? Feeling so lousy?"
"Believe it or not, yes." Lavender replied.
"Is this how you felt when you found out about Draco?" Hermione asked.
"Well… sort of." Lavender sighed. "It probably didn't hurt as much because I wasn't ever in love with that git. I felt like I was used, but I'm glad I didn't give in to him before finding out about him. I was ready to Hermione. I thought I was driving him away by not giving myself to him." She smiled briefly as she thought about her goodbye to him. "I'm okay though. It doesn't matter to me as much as I once thought it would."
"Well that's good," Hermione said, her eyes travelling back to the forest.
"I was hoping you'd like to take a walk or something, you know… maybe go talk to Cho or the rest of your friends here?" Lavender asked, hoping to take Hermione's mind off Harry.
"Sure," Hermione said vaguely. "I should probably find out what she knows… if she knows."
Lavender followed her cousin towards the employee area of the resort. "It's kind of nice back here. Quieter than where we are."
"I suppose that's a benefit of working here, although at the moment I can't think of anything worse than to be an employee of Vernon Dursley," Hermione replied. She led her cousin up to Cho's cabin and knocked on the door.
It was opened immediately and Hermione could see that Cho, Neville, Ron and Luna were gathered inside. "Hi everyone… I suppose you've heard?" she asked tentatively.
Cho sighed and ushered them in. "Yes… it was all over the cafeteria this morning." She closed the door behind them. "Are you all right Hermione?"
Hermione shrugged. "All right… that's about it." She sat down next to Ron on the bed while Lavender perched on the edge of the nightstand. "What about you Cho, are you okay?"
"Fine," Neville reached his hand out and wove their fingers together as Cho scuffed her foot on the floor. "It feels a bit strange being here without him."
Everyone nodded and sat in an uncomfortable silence for a few minutes. "Dammit!" Ron snapped. "I just can't believe my sister would do something like this!"
Neville shook his head. "We can't figure out how Vernon discovered this- she was at the lake all day, we asked her co-workers and they said she didn't leave once."
"But it had to have been her," Hermione objected. "She's the one who threatened me with it!"
"Maybe she had help?" Neville suggested. "She couldn't have done this all on her own."
Ron looked confused. "Who does she know well enough besides me around here? She always tells me she's in her cabin at night... I didn't think she really got to know anyone."
Cho bit her bottom lip and wondered if now could be the time to tell Ron that his little sister happened to know someone else quite well. She looked from Hermione to Neville and saw that they too were struggling with whether or not to spring this bombshell on Ron.
"Ronald..." Luna put her hand on his arm. "Don't... don't get angry all right?"
"What are you talking about?" Ron jumped to his feet.
"It's just that..." Luna looked to Cho for help. "Ronald... your sister... she's..."
"She's sort of been seeing someone," Cho finished, still unable to bring herself to tell him straight out.
"Who?" Ron demanded. He looked at all his friends and found that none of them would meet his eyes. "What the hell is going on here? You all know something and you won't tell me!"
Neville stepped forward and hoped to summon some of the Gryffindor courage. "We're a little hesitant to tell you because you won't like it."
Luna pulled Ron back down next to her. "Please calm down," she said, wrapping her arms around his shoulders. "Ronald... she's been seeing Draco Malfoy ever since we all got back here."
"WHAT?" Ron nearly roared.
"Quiet!" Cho hissed. "I don't think they heard you in Russia!"
"What do you bloody mean she's SEEING Draco Malfoy? That bloody prat?" Ron fumed but he did as Cho said.
"She's not just seeing him," Lavender chimed in.
Ron turned to glare at her. "What else...." the colour drained from his face. "You mean... she's..."
Luna rested her chin on his shoulder. "I'm sorry to tell you this way Ronald... apparently there's a lot more going on between them than any of us thought."
"We should have told you sooner," Neville said apologetically.
"Damn bloody right you should have." Ron snapped. He fumed for another few minutes as everyone shifted uncomfortably. "Sorry..." he finally grunted. "It's not you guy's fault my sister turned out to be such a... such a..."
"It's okay Ronald," Luna said quietly.
Lavender looked thoughtfully around at the group. Admittedly, she didn't know any of them all that well save for her cousin, but she couldn't help feeling that they were all being a bit dense. If it was obvious to her, she didn't understand why none of them had voiced it aloud. "Have you ever considered that Draco could be the one helping her?" Lavender asked hesitantly.
Hermione's ears perked up. "Is he as big a sneak as he seems to be?" she asked the rest of the group.
Neville nodded. "He's worse than sneaky, Hermione. Harry and I used to joke that the coward had no conscience."
Cho agreed. "He enjoys seeing other people suffer...especially Harry. They've hated each other as long as I can remember."
Hermione stood up and began pacing. "This fits together like a puzzle! Draco has Vernon Dursley wrapped around his little finger- it had to have been HIM who ratted on Harry, because Ginny's been stealing everything! Didn't he say at dinner one night that most of the things stolen were from the lake?" she looked at her cousin.
"Yeah," Lavender replied. She looked excitedly around the room. "And with Ginny being a lifeguard, she has complete and total access to everything there. It would be quite convenient for her to take things."
"I still can't believe my sister would do this," Ron said miserably. "I told my Mum I'd look after her and look what she's turned into only after a couple of months on her own."
Cho looked sympathetically at him. She had no idea what this must be like for him. "It's not your fault, Ron," Cho said firmly. "You had no idea what she was up to. None of us knew how far she'd be willing to go...until it was too late." She sat back down next to Neville as something else dawned on her. "Neville… that night you and I went walking late… didn't we see Dudley leaving the dance studio? He could be helping them as well…" she looked at Hermione. "I'll bet if he thinks they got rid of Harry you'd go running to him with open arms."
Hermione looked positively disgusted at this. "So it was the three of them… Ginny, Dudley and Draco." Everyone shook their heads as all the pieces of the puzzle finally clicked together.
Luna rubbed her hand in slow, soothing circles on Ron's back while his fingers wrapped around her other hand and squeezed. "I'm sorry," she said softly. "I didn't know myself until recently."
Hermione was still pacing. "I wish I could hex them both into last century," she said angrily.
"We can't let them get away with this," Cho said, looking at her friends for support. "We owe it to Harry."
Hermione thought hard and fast. "We need a way to trap them into exposing themselves," she said, chewing on her lower lip.
"But how?" Neville asked, sinking back down in his chair. "They've managed to stay one step ahead of this the whole time."
"Maybe," Cho said thoughtfully. "But now that they think their plan worked perfectly, they may just drop their guard."
Ron nodded. "And if they think no one knows, they might even start talking about it in public."
Hermione looked at her cousin. "Lavender..." she said, a sneaky light coming into her eyes. "Didn't my mum and dad bring our video camera with us?"
"Yeah," Lavender said blankly. "Don't you remember I hid it in our closet because I didn't want to look like a tourist with Uncle Robert following us around wanting to film everything?"
Hermione smiled. "I have a brilliant idea..." she closed Cho's open window and locked the door. "One of us pretends like we stumbled upon their plan and agree with it- try to get them to confess and open up. Pretend that we want to help them take the plan even further to get more money... meanwhile..." she paused. "We'll have the video camera hidden in the corner, recording everything they say." she looked at all of them in turn. "What do you guys think?"
"That's bloody brilliant..." Ron said, his eyes wide.
"But which one of us would they believe would want to do that?" Cho asked. "I think you can knock Hermione and me out of the running."
Hermione shook her head. "Definitely not us. And not you either Lavender..."
"What about Ron?" Cho asked suddenly.
"What?" Ron sat straight up. "No... No way... it'd be hard not to kick that bloody prat for shagging my sister!"
"I know," Cho replied. She took a seat beside Ron and stared earnestly at him. "And we'd all understand if you didn't want to do it, but you have to admit that you're the only one who would make sense."
Ron sighed and got up, staring out the window for a moment. "What would I say?" he asked in a resigned tone.
Hermione got up as well. "Just tell them you thought their plan was brilliant. Tell them you think Harry finally got what he deserved."
"And you expect Ginny to buy that?" Neville asked, unconvinced. "Harry and Ron have been best friends since Hogwarts."
Cho looked at Ron. She knew what she was about to say was a sore spot for him, but it had to be said. "Ron," she began. "You could play up the whole jealousy issue."
Ron glared at her. "I am NOT jealous of Harry!"
"Maybe not then, but you can use it to your advantage now," Cho replied. "So, what do you say? Will you do it?"
"Please Ron?" Hermione asked. "It's not just to put Ginny and Draco in their place here. It's so Harry's name won't have any of this attached. You know how the past can jump back to a person when they least expect it..."
"Ron, you're the only one she'd believe," Neville said. "She'd see right through any of the rest of us."
"All right," Ron replied. "I'll do it."
*** *** ***
The next couple of days went by in a blur for most everyone. The group of friends had met only one more time to discuss what they were going to do and they were scheduled to meet again tonight to finalize a plan of action.
Cho had finished up a late afternoon dance class and was about to close up the dance studio when she heard the telephone ring. Cho jumped at the sound of it. She couldn't ever remember using it once in all the years she'd been at Hillsdale. She sighed and dropped her bag by the door and walked quickly over to the phone.
"Dance Studio," she said impatiently.
"Hey," Harry said. "I was hoping you'd be the one to answer."
"Harry?"
"Yeah," Harry said. "Sorry I haven't been in touch..."
"Where are you?" she asked, twisting the phone cord absently around her finger.
"I'm a few kilometres down the road at that bed and breakfast we always pass when coming to Hillsdale," Harry answered. "I've been trying to lie low since leaving..." she heard him sigh heavily. "What's been going on there? How's Hermione?"
"She's doing as well as can be expected," Cho said quietly. "She misses you....we all do."
"I'm sorry," Harry apologised. "I feel like such a shit for just leaving."
"You had no choice!" Cho said, anger rising again inside her at the whole situation. "I swear if I could get my hands on that Ginny Weasley..."
"So it WAS her?" Harry asked angrily.
"We're pretty sure," Cho replied. "And we think she had help. I'll give you two guesses as to who and the first one doesn't count."
"You mean her and Malfoy," Harry stated, shaking his head. "I have half a mind to come back there and..."
"No!" Cho said loudly. "You can't! Dursley would have you arrested so fast your head would spin. Harry, stay away for now. We're...we're working on something to clear your name. Okay? Just promise me that you won't come back here."
"I have to come back and see Hermione soon," Harry argued. "It's been hard these past few days, not able to see her or talk to her Cho. I can't stand it anymore."
"It's only been two days," Cho teased. "Surely, you can make it a little longer."
"Oh and what if it was Neville who had to leave instead?" Harry asked.
"You're right," Cho admitted. "I'm sorry... "
"Well..." Harry sighed. "Just... tell her I love her all right? I'll try and figure out a way for us to get together soon."
"Promise me you won't do anything foolish," Cho said firmly. "I don't want my baby's godfather in prison okay?"
Harry laughed for the first time in days. "I promise." he said. "I'll talk to you soon all right? Call my mobile if you need to."
"Goodbye, Harry. Take care," Cho said, hanging the phone up, feeling more determined than ever to clear her friend's name.
*** *** ***
Ron took a deep breath as he stood outside his sister's cabin. After a great deal of spying and listening in on Ginny's conversations, he and the rest of his friends had figured out she and Draco and Dudley were meeting in her cabin to discuss their newfound riches and Harry's being sacked for their thefts.
"You can do this Ron," he said to himself. Knocking hard once on the door, he burst inside, much to Ginny's chagrin. "What are you doing?" he asked.
Ginny looked up in surprise at the sight of her brother. She quickly made to cover up the pile of money that was lying on the middle of her bed. "Ron," she said, quickly getting to her feet. She walked over to her brother and gave him a fake smile. "What are you doing here?"
Ron faked a large grin at her. "Well Gin... I was beginning to think you figured me to be an idiot." he ignored Draco Malfoy's snort. "I kept wondering why you were showing up in new things, new dress, new shirt..." he shook his head. "And last night... I finally figured it out." he saw the red light of Hermione's parents' video camera in a corner of the room, underneath a towel.
"I-I have no idea what you're talking about Ron," Ginny lied. "I told you I was just saving up my money. Now, if you'll excuse us..." She grabbed him by the arm and made to show him the door, but he shrugged her off.
"Come off it Ginny," Ron laughed. "I'm on your side here! I've had it with Harry Potter, just like the two of you!" he sat down on the bed next to a suddenly wary Malfoy. "Bloody pompous git, he's always got to be in the limelight."
"You have?" Ginny asked, unconvinced. "He's your best friend. You've read me the riot act twice this summer for even getting near him and now all of a sudden, you can't stand him?"
"It was a long time coming," Ron replied. "Besides Gin... blood is thicker than water." he shrugged. "You're my sister. My loyalty stands by you. If he was thick enough not to pay attention to you when you want him, then it's his loss."
Draco snorted. "Don't tell me you believe a word he says, Gin."
Ginny looked at Ron. "I don't know."
Ron sighed. "I can't blame you two for being weary of me." he said. "But think of it this way- if I was truly out to get you two, wouldn't I have gone to Vernon Dursley with this information?" he looked at Ginny who slowly nodded. "Nope, instead I'm here... I want to see if we can take this even further than you guys already have."
"Well, we already got Harry fired," Ginny said with a sly smile.
Draco shook his head, still unwilling to take Ron at his word, just yet.
"Come on Malfoy. We're adults now." Ron smiled as winningly as possible as he held out his hand. "Besides we all have some common ground here. You guys got Potter out of here, and now we're making more money than you or I have ever seen." he nodded at his sister.
Ginny gazed at Ron and couldn't help smiling back at him. Out of all of her brothers, Ron was the one she'd always been closest to. Things had changed over the past couple of years as they'd drifted apart quite a bit, but she was touched nonetheless that he was now back on her side. "You really want in on this?" she asked, ignoring the doubtful expression on Draco's face.
Ron nodded eagerly. "Dursley doesn't pay shit here and I really want to take Luna somewhere nice for a date. Getting my hands on some extra quid would really help things out."
"We can do better than that," Ginny said, walking over to her closet and lugging out a bag of more money and jewellery.
"Blimey," Ron's eyes grew wide. "You two have been busy!" Another hard rap on the door was heard and Dudley Dursley came lumbering in a moment later.
"What is he doing here?" Dudley pointed a finger at Ron, then immediately dove back into his bag of sweets.
"He's my brother," Ginny said proudly. She walked over to him and put an arm around him. "He's with us now. Aren't you, Ron?"
"That's right," Ron grinned again. "How..." his eyes momentarily caught some sparkling diamonds and he lifted the necklace up into clear view. "How did you three figure this plan out? You must have been working on this for some time now..."
"For quite a bit, actually," Ginny said. "It all began as a way to get back at Harry, but it kind of escalated from there. It was pretty easy. It started with Dudley and I and then we brought Draco in."
"Cool," Ron nodded as he lifted more jewellery from the bag. "How much do you have here, roughly? And how did you guys figure how to pin it on Potter?" he grinned again. "That's really the part that gets me best. It amuses me that you guys were able to put him in his place..." he laughed. "And he went running with his tail between his legs!"
"That was easy," Draco scoffed. "We had Dudders, here, plant some stuff in Potter's cabin and in the dance studio. We bided our time and waited for the perfect opportunity to let the proverbial cat out of the bag. I went to Dursley and he ate it up without question. The rest, as we say, is history. Potter's gone and we're reaping all the rewards."
Partly to test Ron, Draco accentuated his story by walking over to Ginny and kissing her hard on the lips.
Ron barely suppressed a shudder. "Malfoy... I really must say... you're a better choice for her than Potter ever was."
Draco smirked. "Why's that Weasley?"
Ron looked straight at the blond. "You obviously care about her to go along with this plan." Dudley watched the two of them, his eyes moving back and forth as his hand moved continuously from the bag to his mouth.
"He does care," Ginny said, winking at Draco. "Who knows? Maybe by the time all of this is finished, the two of you could be friends..."
"I wouldn't go that far," Ron replied, knowing if he tried to befriend Draco Malfoy the blond would see straight through his plan.
"You never know," Ginny said optimistically. She looked disdainfully at Dudley who was smearing chocolate all over her duvet. "Look at what you're doing!"
"So what," Dudley snapped. "My dad will just buy a new comforter."
"It's too bad you weren't in on this from the beginning, Ron," Ginny said, rolling her eyes at Dudley.
"Yeah, we could have framed Harry much sooner," Ron nodded. "But what you've done... " He shook his head, making his blue eyes go large in wonder. "I'm actually proud of you Ginny."
"Really?" Ginny asked, beaming back at him. She shrugged. "It wasn't that hard, really. Being a lifeguard helped out so much. You really wouldn't believe the number of people who just leave their stuff on the shore thinking it will be right there when they got back. It was so hard not to laugh at their stupidity."
Ron nodded, a small smile coming to his lips. "I really just can't believe it." he said again, glancing down at his watch. "Well I've got to go- I have to meet Luna. How about we meet again here tomorrow night to make new plans?"
"Sounds good," Ginny said. "I'll walk you out, Ron."
Ron smiled at his sister. "I never thought I'd see the day when you and Malfoy were a couple."
She grinned as she closed the door behind her. She and Ron were alone on the steps. "I'd never thought I'd see the day when you would betray Harry."
"Yeah well..." Ron made his face go sour. "I've just had it you know? Bloody git always gets everything his way. From the time we started school to now... everything is always on his terms and if it's not, he throws a fit. I'm sick of it."
"I'm really glad to hear you say that, Ron," Ginny said sincerely. "He really treated me terribly this summer. All I ever did was like him and he treated me terribly." She sighed as she leaned back against the door.
"And the way he and that girl walked around here like they were fooling everyone, sneaking around...I tell you, Ron...I quite enjoyed wiping that smug expression off Harry's face."
"As I enjoyed watching it." Ron hugged his sister, finally allowing a grimace to wash over his features. "I'll see you later Gin. Thanks for letting me be a part of your plan."
"You're quite welcome," Ginny said, smiling broadly at him. "I better get back inside before Draco and Dudley kill each other." She gave her brother one last smile before opening her door and disappearing inside her cabin.
Ron watched the closed door a moment before trudging off into the woods. He should by all rights feel jubilant right now, the camera had recorded everything they needed... but Ron felt shitty. Sneaky or no, Ginny was still his sister.
"Hey," Ron muttered as he opened the door to Cho's cabin. She, Hermione and Luna jumped up immediately, anticipation written all over their faces. "Got everything we need to know... I'll pop back by later and get the camera from where we hid it.
Cho grinned. "Fantastic. Now we just need to figure out the perfect time for showing it!"
Luna walked over to Ron to kiss him in greeting, but as she did so, she noticed something wasn't quite right. "Are you okay?" she asked, her hand lingering on his cheek.
Ron sighed as he grabbed her hand in his. "Want to take a walk with me?" he asked softly. "Do you guys mind?" he looked at Hermione and Cho who shook their heads.
"Just come by my cabin when you have the camera so I can make sure everything sounds okay. Just tap on my window and I'll get it from you." Hermione replied. Ron nodded and he and Luna left.
They walked in silence for a few moments and Luna suspected she knew what had her boyfriend so troubled. "Do you want to talk about it?" she asked quietly.
"I feel rotten," Ron said. "I tricked my own sister into framing herself. I had to stop myself three times from turning back around and confessing everything." He looked up at his girlfriend. "I know she's been awful but I still love her. My mum and dad are going to be so disappointed, in her AND me."
Luna stopped walking and looked at Ron. Her heart went out to him. She wished she knew what to say to make him feel better. "That's understandable," she replied. "We all know that it wasn't easy for you to do what you did."
Ron shook his head. "I feel lousy."
"I know you do," she said, stroking his hand. "But she did something horrible, Ron. Things could have turned out much worse. Dursley could have had Harry arrested because of what Ginny and Draco did. We couldn't just let that happen."
"You're right." Ron sighed. He pulled her close and she rested her head on his shoulder. "Thanks for listening to me."
"That's what I'm here for," she said with a reassuring smile.
"Well not just that," Ron said teasingly. "I can think of a few other things you're here for Ms. Lovegood."
She giggled. "Okay, Mr. Weasley...why don't we go back to your cabin and discuss that further?" she asked with her eyes twinkling.
"I think I would." Ron replied. "First, I need to swing by Ginny's and get the camera. Something tells me she, Draco and Dudley will be leaving soon." he shuddered. "My sister and Malfoy..."
"They didn't snog in front of you, did they?" Luna asked.
"He kissed her once, I think it was to piss me off." Ron replied.
"Probably did it to test you," Luna guessed. "And you managed to keep your temper?"
"I did." Ron leaned over for a quick kiss. "Because I thought of you."
"That's so sweet, Ronald," she said dreamily.
"And that's without lessons from Harry," Ron boasted.
*** *** ***
Another few days later, Hermione was sitting on the porch just outside the cabin with one of her university texts laid on her lap. It had been sitting open to the same page for an hour now, as Hermione was staring off into space.
It had been four days now since Harry had left. Cho had told her that he rang her in the studio one day, but hadn't heard from him since.
Hermione missed Harry. She missed him so much it hurt, especially at night when she lay alone in her bed. Lavender and her parents had done their best to cheer her up- they'd even taken to avoiding the ballroom with her.
"Hi Hermione," Lavender said. "What are you doing?"
"Just… reading. Or trying to," Hermione snapped out of her reverie. "What about you?"
"Nothing," Lavender shrugged. "Bored is all. There's nothing to do here now that Draco Malfoy is a huge git and a thief and Harry's gone."
"Tell me about it." Hermione replied. She closed her book. "I should actually go talk to that friend of Neville's about showing that tape of Ginny when Vernon has that movie night in a couple of days."
"Do you want me to go with you?" Lavender volunteered.
"Sure," Hermione smiled at her cousin. "I'd love to walk with someone." She dropped her book on her bed and retrieved the tape from the nightstand drawer. The two girls ambled over to the ballroom, which on certain nights would be turned into a pseudo movie theatre, and up to the room where the film would be projected from.
"Hallo?" Hermione said, knocking lightly on the door frame.
"Hallo," a young man with an Irish brogue stepped out from behind a pile of boxes. "What can I do for ye?"
"Hi… are you Neville's friend Seamus?" Hermione asked.
"That I am," Seamus smiled.
"Good…" Hermione pulled the tape out of her pocket. "Neville said you'd be able to help us with this… did he explain everything already?"
"Aye he did." Seamus nodded and then his eyes moved back to Lavender, who was still standing by the door. "Hallo there…" he said, looking at her with obvious interest.
"Hi," Lavender replied, mesmerized by his accent. "I'm uh… I'm Lavender." She edged forward into the room.
"Seamus," he nodded as he turned her hand and kissed the back of it. "Charmed to meet you."
Lavender watched as Seamus excused himself to go get something out of the next room. When she was sure he was out of earshot, she tugged on Hermione's arm.
"Who is that and why haven't I noticed him at all this summer?" she asked.
Hermione smiled at her. "From what I heard from Neville, he spends a lot of time up here with the electronics and such. Doesn't really get into the dancing- he's the one who does all the spotlights and he's always in charge when Vernon does the movies. Raised a Muggle so he knows how to work a telly and a projector, but he went to school with Harry, Neville and Ron."
"You know, I wish that we had gone to Hogwarts," Lavender said wistfully. "I'm starting to think we missed out."
"I agree," Hermione shook her head.
Lavender put a hand on Hermione's shoulder. "Hey...it's going to be okay, Hermione. Once they show this video, everyone will know the truth and you and Harry can live happily ever after."
That made Hermione laugh. "I certainly hope so. I've had enough sneaking around and we all feel awful enough as it is about making Ron do what he did to his sister, even if she is horrid." Seamus returned to the room with a camera identical to the one the Grangers owned.
"Sorry that took me so long." he smiled at them but his eyes rested on Lavender. "Took me a minute to find this."
"What do you need another one for?" Lavender asked.
"Well," Seamus motioned for her to come closer. "What we'll do here is plug this cord here into the projector and when I play the tape, instead of a film being shown we'll see what's on this." he smiled up at her.
"Oh," she said, smiling flirtatiously at him. "It's really great of you to help us out like this."
"Well I certainly can't believe Ginny Weasley's done what she's done..." he said, running his hands through his brown hair. "She used to be such a nice gal."
"She's certainly not nice any more," Hermione replied. "But we appreciate it very much Seamus. We'll leave you to it then. Let me know if you need anything else all right?"
"Or me," Lavender chimed in. "I would love to help any way I can."
"Would you like to stay and see how this all works?" Seamus offered a bit eagerly. "It's not the most exciting thing in the world but..."
"Of course," Lavender answered quickly. She looked at Hermione pleadingly. "You'll be okay if I stay behind, won't you?"
"Have fun," Hermione had to bite her lower lip to keep from breaking into a large grin as she waved and left.
Lavender would always be Lavender, Hermione surmised as she headed back to the cabin. Her heart would be broken but she'd find someone new right away. Seamus seemed much nicer than Draco at any rate.
She was almost back when she saw a snowy white owl fly over the tops of the trees. Retrieving her book from her room, she sat back on the porch and once again tried to read.
Hermione was interrupted several minutes later. "Hi Hermione," Cho said. "Can I borrow you for a minute?"
"What's going on? Is it something with the baby?" Hermione asked concerned as Cho led her into the forest.
"I have a surprise for you," Cho said mysteriously. She said nothing more until they arrived at the clearing.
"Okay…" Hermione was confused. "What is it?"
"Me," a voice came out of thin air and Hermione jumped.
Harry pushed back the hood of his invisibility cloak, a grin appearing on his lips. Hermione gasped, her hands coming up to cover her mouth before she flew at him, nearly knocking him over.
"What are you doing here?" Hermione had tears in her eyes. "Harry you can't be seen here or your uncle will have you arrested!"
"I don't care," Harry replied, stroking her hair. He nodded a grateful thank you to Cho who slid out of the clearing silently. "I needed to see you."
Hermione sat up as did he and she stared at him. "I missed you," she said, her lower lip trembling. "It's not fair you had to leave. It's been so boring here without you."
Harry hugged her tightly. "I missed you too…" he spoke into her hair. "But I'd rather have had to leave than never see you again."
Hermione sniffed as she clutched onto Harry's shoulders. "Where are you staying?"
"At some bed and breakfast about ten kilometres down the road," Harry answered.
"Oh," Hermione ran her hands through his messy hair as he hugged her tighter. "How long can you stay?"
"As long as you want me to," Harry answered softly. He tipped her chin up and kissed her, his lips lingering as his hands moved back to tangle into her hair. Hermione let him push her back, his tongue lining her lower lip; she opened her mouth as Harry's hands wandered from her hair to her breasts.
"Harry I hate this," Hermione said, as her lips broke away from his. "I mean… my dad's finally come around yet we still have to sneak to see each other. I want to leave and come stay with you."
"Hermione you can't," Harry said.
"Yes I can!" Hermione said her tone a bit shrill.
"Hermione," Harry said, holding her shoulders firmly. "I want more than anything to have you stay with me… we just need to hold on another few weeks until you and your family leave this place altogether." His fingers moved to stroke her hair. "After that… we can have whatever we want."
Hermione sighed and leaned against him, feeling his lips in her hair. "All right," she conceded. "For now though…" she looked devilishly at him as she captured his mouth with hers.
Harry wound his arms back around her, lifting her body up against his. "I miss being with you at night," he said, nibbling on her ear before bringing his lips back to hers. "Even waking up with you at 6 am is better than waking up alone."
"I know," she agreed, smiling as he trailed kisses along her neck. "I missed this...you...us."
"Soon enough," Harry muttered. "So fill me in... Cho said you guys were all up to something but she wouldn't get into details."
Hermione nodded and sat down with Harry on the grass. "It's complicated. Much more so than I even imagined."
"Tell me," Harry said, pulling her over so she sat between his legs. "It's obvious to me that Ginny's responsible for all this."
"She was the mastermind behind it all," Hermione said quietly. "But she had help from Malfoy and Dudley, of all people."
"Dudley?" Harry asked incredulously. "What the bloody hell did have to gain from this?"
"I think he thought if you were out of the picture, he'd have a chance with me," Hermione said with a laugh.
Harry grimaced. "That's just... disgusting." he kissed the side of her neck. "And Malfoy... I don't need a reason for that." he looked around at her. "I take it Ron's found about... that by now?"
Hermione sighed. "Yeah," she said with a frown. "And you can imagine how well that went over."
"I feel bad for the bloke," Harry said. "I'm surprised he didn't tear into both of them. His mum's going to have a bloody heart attack though. Ginny's her baby... both because she's the youngest and the only girl in the family."
"He was pretty angry at her and at us for not telling him sooner," Hermione admitted. "But Luna helped calm him down and then Cho came up with this idea."
"What idea?" Harry asked curiously.
"About sending someone on the inside, as it were, to see about getting Ginny to confess," Hermione replied.
"Ron did that?" Harry asked, his eyes wide.
Hermione nodded. "He wasn't too keen on it, as you can imagine. But, we set up a video camera in her bedroom and Ron barged in on them the other night. He pretended that he wanted in on their little plan."
"A video camera?" Harry asked. "Whose idea was that?"
"Mine," Hermione said, blushing. "My parents brought it along."
Harry stared at her a moment as his face broke out in a grin. "Brains and beauty," he hugged her tightly. "When did I get the luck of the draw for a change?"
"I didn't really do anything," she insisted. "I just came up with the idea to use the camera. You should be thanking Cho and Ron."
"I will," Harry nuzzled the back of her neck. "But for now let me revel in the fact that my girlfriend is the smartest one around these parts."
Hermione giggled as he tickled her neck. "That's the first time you've called me that."
"Called you what?" Harry asked.
"Your girlfriend," she said, feeling her cheeks reddening.
"Oh," Harry replied. "Do you... do you not like that?"
"No," she said, shaking her head. "It's not that I don't like it...I like it very much, actually. It's just it's the first time you've ever called me that." Embarrassed, she put her head in her hands. "Forget I just said that! It's just me babbling again."
"I love when you babble," Harry said. "It comes with that whole 'you turn me on all the time' thing."
"I think you just might need your head examined then," she teased.
Harry laughed and squeezed her sides, making her jump. "Well if it just means I'm head over heels for you then I don't want any examination." she turned around and sat on her knees as he drew his legs up, leaning back on his hands.
"It's funny when you think about it, isn't it?" she mused. "We didn't even know each other when the summer began and now...I can't remember what my life was like without you in it."
"Same here," Harry grinned. "And who'd have thought in those first few weeks when I had a stick up my arse that you'd still love me?"
She laughed. "You were pretty terrible."
"Yeah, yeah." Harry reached for her. "I should really make it up to you."
"You've spent the entire holiday making up for it," she said softly. She smiled slyly as she wrapped her arms around his neck. "But there is one more thing you could do for me."
"What's that?" Harry asked, lying back on his cloak and pulling her on top of him.
"Can you stay with me tonight?" she asked. "I don't care if we stay here or if we go back to your room at the inn, but I just don't want to be alone tonight. Please?"
"What are you going to say when everyone realises you're missing? I can't stay here... especially now that I know Ginny, Malfoy AND Dudley are in this together." Harry said, tucking her hair behind her ear.
She put her hand on his and looked at him with a pleading expression on her face. "I don't care about what anyone else would say or what they would think. I just want to be with you again, tonight."
Harry nodded. "I need you too." Hermione threw her arms around him and kissed him quite passionately.
She put all the emotion she'd been holding back for the past few days in that one kiss. Although her eyes were closed, she could feel him bringing her down to the ground and she felt her skin seemingly become electrified at his touch. But, just as she was losing herself in him, he abruptly pulled away. "What?" she asked breathlessly.
"We can't," Harry said. "Dammit Hermione..." he suddenly reached back and pulled his cloak over both of them. "I never realised Ginny was capable of doing this much. She could be watching us now... if you leave there's no telling what she'll try next!"
Hermione groaned in frustration and got to her feet. "She holds all the cards, doesn't she? Even when she's about to get what's coming to her, she's still in a position of power." She let out a hollow laugh at the absurdity of the entire situation.
"Hermione I'm sorry," Harry got to his feet, making sure they were both still covered.
"Why are you sorry?" she asked angrily. "You haven't done anything wrong. Neither have I. But we're the ones hiding." Her tone softened as she looked at the expression on Harry's face. "I know you're right about me staying behind. It just doesn't make it any easier."
"I know love," he pulled her into his arms and held her tightly. "Just another few weeks is all."
"Just another few weeks," she echoed. She wanted to believe him, but with the way that fate seemed to be shining down on Ginny lately, Hermione hadn't allowed herself to be completely optimistic. There was still the off chance that Ginny could emerge from this unscathed. She hadn't voiced these thoughts to anyone, but they'd haunted her for the last couple of nights.
Harry kissed the side of her head. "You've been the strong one in all this. I feel like a bloody coward because I ran. I should have gone and challenged Vernon and not left."
"And ended up in prison?" she asked, raising her eyebrows at him.
Harry sighed. "There's just no bright side to this is there?"
"I wouldn't exactly say that," Hermione said with slight smile. "My parents are on our side now. They've been avoiding the Dursleys since this happened."
"Have they really?" Harry chuckled. "Yeah you're right. Again."
She grinned. "I even overheard my dad talking to my mum about having you over for dinner sometime when we get back home. I had to have Lavender pinch my arm to make sure I wasn't dreaming."
"All right... there's the bright spot." Harry joked. He leaned down and gave her a brief but thorough kiss. "I should let you get back then," he said reluctantly.
She nodded, but still held on to his arm. "There is something you need to know, though. You know all about the movie nights the resort has, right?"
"Yeah," Harry rolled his eyes. "It was a nice night off for all of us."
"Well," Hermione said with a coy smile. "I happen to know that this one coming up is going to be the best one yet. I hear that they're showing a great film."
"Oh?" Harry looked at her. "What might that be?"
"The Rise & Fall of Ginny Weasley", Hermione deadpanned. "Have you ever seen it?"
Harry's jaw fell open a second. "No... But I hear it's a good one. I'll make sure not to miss it."
"So I should save a seat for you?" she asked teasingly, enjoying their last few moments together.
"Please," Harry kissed her again and she pulled him as close as she possibly could.
"I love you," she whispered.
"I love you," he said, his hands cupping her face. Harry kissed her again and she pulled away, looking around to make sure no one was near before stepping out of the cloak. He watched her leave the clearing before retrieving his broom and taking off for the bed and breakfast.