Harry and Ginny were in her office, working on the report to hand into Amelia Bones. They�d stopped off and gotten a proper breakfast, but had brought back scones and coffee. Ginny had tried looking for the painting on Dex�s desk, but couldn�t find it anywhere. She reckoned that he had put it some place safe.

Harry was happily chewing away on his second scone, when he frowned down at what they had just written about finding the painting.

�Why do you think he left it? Is he playing with us, do you think?�

Ginny shook her head. �I don�t know. It led us right to her.�

�Well, it led you.�

�Yeah,� Ginny shook her head. �That�s the part that�s weird.�

�Why?�

�Because I mean... it�s almost as though he knew I�d be involved somehow, doesn�t it?�

Harry swallowed his last bite and then frowned. �What do you mean, he knew you�d be involved. Do you think this is personal?�

�No, not personal but... I don�t know. It�s almost as though by leaving that painting he was tempting someone to see if they could find out anything with it. And that whole part about using Winifred�s blood on the window. What was that about? The first time I touched the painting... I had such a... strong knowledge about what he wanted but then it was gone. And there was something else... something confusing about the whole thing. As though whoever had painted it had...� Ginny paused and frowned in concentration. �Oh, I don�t know. I�m hopeless at good readings with people sometimes. I always feel like I�m getting a sense of two things. The truth and what they want me to think. It�s very dodgy sometimes, being a seer.�

Harry took her hand and linked it with is. �You�re brilliant at it though.�

Ginny smiled. �You�re just saying that because I�m your girlfriend.�

As soon as she said it, she felt herself blush. Now that had been presumptuous, hadn�t it?

Harry noticed and looked at her. �What�s with the blushing? I miss some sort of innuendo in that?�

�Er... well, I mean, I... just said I was... we haven�t really talked about-�

�Funny. I didn�t hear anything that I hadn�t already assumed was true. Now who�s being a silly duck?�

�Well, I...� Ginny paused as Harry kissed her. �What was that for?�

�You�re so funny, Ginny. As if what we did last night hadn�t changed everything in every way. I�d go running down the Ministry Halls, screaming it at the top of my lungs if I didn�t think Amelia would chuck me out for improper behavior.�

Ginny giggled. �That would be pretty amusing, actually. You know, you do seem a bit proud of yourself this morning, I have to say. People can probably tell a mile away, anyway.�

Harry smiled brashly at her. �Well, yeah, I admit, I am pretty confident about the whole thing.�

She raised her eyebrow. �Confident? Harry, you�ve been grinning from ear to ear since you woke up. In fact, I think you were smiling like that in your sleep-�

Harry kissed her again, much more attentively then before and when Ginny pulled away, her heart was beating loudly in her ears. She knew there was a dopey smile filling her face.

�Oh yeah,� Harry said, casually. �I�m pretty confident.�

She punched him playfully on the arm. �Enough! Fine, you win. You are the world�s finest, most incredible, sexiest lover ever and I feel sorry for the rest of the women in the world who will never know what they missed.�

Harry smiled slyly at her. �That�s all I wanted to hear. Now, are we almost done with this or do you think she�ll want all the details?�

Shaking her head, she looked down at the parchment. �I suppose it would be nice to show her the painting itself, but... I don�t know where Dex put it.�

Harry looked over at her partner�s desk. �Does he have a locked drawer or a special cabinet or anything? Would he have taken it home with him?�

�I reckon he could have but-�

Ginny was interrupted by the door opening. Dex came in, looking hurried and preoccupied. He stopped when he saw them.

�Er... hello. Didn�t think you two would be up before the sun today.�

Ginny nodded at him. �You�re in pretty early yourself.�

Dex turned a pink color but turned away. �Yeah, well, I wanted to come in and help you, since I�ve been utterly useless in that and every other department lately.�

Dex didn�t look at Harry specifically, but Ginny knew then that she had really hurt her friend�s feelings by going out to find Winifred with anyone else but him. They�d been partners for close to four years almost and they had always done everything together.

�Well, you can be an amazing help if you let me know where you put that painting we found yesterday.�

Dex turned and frowned. �I left it on my desk. Wasn�t it here?� He moved over to his desk and looked around. �It was right on top of everything, I swear.�

Ginny and Harry got up and walked over to his desk. �Are you sure?� she asked him. �Maybe you were tired and put it some place else instead?�

�It�s because I was tired that I just dropped it off. The Eaton�s were right outside the door and then we went to St. Mungo�s. I didn�t have time to do anything else.�

�Did you lock up when you left?�

Dex rolled his eyes at her. �Of course, Weasley. I may be unorganized sometimes but I�m not daft. We can�t all be super wizards who think of everything, you know. But I did lock the door when I left. Wasn�t it locked when you came in this morning?�

Harry had moved when Dex had referred to him as a super wizard, but didn�t say anything. Under the circumstances, Ginny thought that was very diplomatic of him.

�Dex, relax. I didn�t say you were daft. And yes, you�re right, the door was locked this morning. But... what happened to it?�

Dex frowned at her. �Go ahead, say it.�

Ginny looked at him in surprise. �Say what?�

�I�ve loused things up yet again. First the letters I didn�t read, then the doll last night and now this. I�m a blithering idiot, obviously. No wonder you never-� his voice broke off and he looked at her and Harry, awkwardly. �I�m going to pop out for a cup of coffee or something. Goodbye.�

�Dex! Would you just-� Ginny found herself talking to a slamming door.

She shook her head. �What in Merlin�s name was that about? I didn�t accuse him of anything and he�s the one who offered to take the painting back here last night.�

�He�s jealous,� Harry said simply, looking down at the desk.

�No reason to act like... well, no reason to act like that,� Ginny said stubbornly. Dex had been acting less and less like himself this past week. He had been making a lot of stupid mistakes lately and that was entirely unlike him.

�I can�t blame him, really. I reckon I did sort of come in and take over everything he�s cared about for the last four years. He�s probably just overwhelmed with all this stuff,� Harry said as he picked a piece of paper that had fallen to the floor.

�Well, that�s extremely sensitive of you Harry. But it doesn�t help me that my work partner is a basket case and now we�ve screwed up yet again. And this time by losing an important clue. I need Dex to be back to his regular self, now more than ever. He helps with the things I normally don�t want to deal with, I have to admit. I can�t do this alone.�

Harry didn�t say anything for awhile and just looked at her.

Ginny grew self-conscious and furrowed her brow in confusion. �What?�

�I thought I was helping you. I thought I was making sure you... weren�t alone?�

Ginny realized what she�d said and felt bad all of a sudden. �Oh, Harry, I didn�t mean-�

�I reckon I just don�t understand how if you have me, you still need... him.�

Ginny looked at him and noticed his eyes had flashed at her, their color bright behind his glasses.

�It�s not like that. Look, Dex and me, we�re a team. We�re... he�s a good person. You haven�t been able to see that, probably, but he sort of keeps me sane. And it�s sort of weird to me that he seems to be pulling away from me... er... work.�

Harry narrowed his eyes. �Right, work. You know, Ginny... when I told you Dex had feelings for you, you didn�t seem all that surprised. In fact, I�d say you�ve taken it quite well. And actually, I can�t seem to recall you-�

�I told you I love you, Harry. What part of that did you think meant, oh yeah, I love Dex too? He�s my friend, Harry,� Ginny shook her head at him. �This is ridiculous. We�re fighting about Dex, yet again. I can�t believe it. I�ve slept in your arms, I�ve told you there�s no one else in my heart but you and... yet we�re still here dealing with your insecurities.�

�What if the wand was in the other pocket, Ginny?�

She frowned at him in confusion.

�What if there was someone I worked with, who had feelings for me? What if I seemed to want to keep worrying about her even though it was obvious that because of her feelings we wouldn�t be able to work together anymore? What if I made you feel as though you didn�t matter?�

�Harry! I never said you didn�t matter. What is wrong with you all of a sudden?�

Harry shook his head. He leaned against the desk, his expression sullen.

�I don�t understand you,� Ginny said quietly. �Dex is my friend, my friend, my friend. That�s it. I didn�t say anything about him having feelings for me because to be quite honest, it doesn�t matter to me now. He could send me a rose a day, sing love songs at my window every night and it wouldn�t matter. He�s not you. And you can walk out that door and never see me again and he still won�t be you.�

Ginny walked over to him and put her hands on the sides of his face, pulling his eyes to her. �No one will ever be you. As far as I�m concerned my life began last night, in your arms. What happened to my confident Harry? Why do you get so scared?�

�Because I don�t want to lose you. I�ve lost too many people that I�ve cared about. And I care for you more than any of them put together. And-� his voice trailed off, to a whisper.

�What?�

�That scares me, Ginny. It scares me in so many ways.�

Ginny closed her eyes. �I�m scared too,� she whispered softly.

�Because I left before. Because I hurt you,� Harry said sadly. �If I could change that I would.�

�No, Harry. It�s not because of the past. It�s because when I�m with you nothing else matters. When you touch me, I lose myself.�

She wrapped her arms around him and willed the depth of her emotions to somehow transfer from her body to his. She had to make him understand that there was no one else in her heart, except him. There was no room for anyone else. She pulled her head up and looked at his face, watching as a tear began to fall. Tenderly placing her thumb on his face, she brushed it away and he blinked back at her, his eyes bright behind his frames.

�Want me to tell you about the first time I ever saw you?�

He looked confused. �It was when I was getting on the Hogwarts Express the first time, wasn�t it? When I stopped and asked your Mum how to get on the platform?�

Ginny nodded. �There you were, this lonely little boy with no one to help him and I remembered thinking how I wanted to help you. And then I remember Fred and George coming out and saying that you were you and they�d seen your scar.... and Mum yelled at them and I wanted to go see too, I remember that. But I didn�t want to see your scar Harry, I just wanted to make sure you were okay. The thought of you being alone on that big train seemed wrong somehow, to me. Of course I also didn�t want everyone in my family to leave me behind either. I reckon I thought I could steal away on board too.�

�I remember. I mean, I watched. All of you... through the window. I was sitting right where you were all saying goodbye to each other. Coming from eleven years of being with the Dursley�s, I found all of you Weasley�s fascinating, to say the least. But what does this have to do with anything?�

Ginny smiled. �From the first moment I ever saw you I wanted to help you. I wanted to hug you and make you feel strong. You were so fragile, to me. As though you might just blow away. And even though I knew you�d defeated the Dark Lord and all that other stuff, I remember thinking, he just wants to be a normal boy who�s loved and liked and appreciated for something he really did. Not something that was done to him. So, you see, Harry, I�ve been looking out for you since day one and I�m not about to stop now.�

Ginny kissed him gently and then hugged him, tight. She whispered in his ear. �I love your smile, I love your eyes, I love your voice in the morning. I love the way you chew on a biscuit from the right side, I love the way you bite your lip when you�re writing, I love the way you always fight me when I�m being pig headed and I love the way you make me feel as though I�m the only person in the room. I love all your bad bits and all your good bits and everything in between. I can�t say it plainer than that, Harry. But I�ll keep-�

He silenced her with a kiss and when she pulled away, there was a smile on his face. �Thank you for that,� he said softly. �My bad bits, eh? What would those be exactly?�

She made a face at him and laughed. �Everything, some of the time. Nothing, most of the time. Maybe your incessant need to hog the blankets. That could be a bad bit.�

Harry�s eyes widened. �I do not hog the blankets.�

�Oh yeah, reckon I got frostbite on my left side for no reason then. You sleep like the dead, do you know that? I couldn�t have roused you to save your life. Just laying there, snoring away-�

A moment later, Ginny was blushing again and Harry was grinning in a very annoying way.

�Don�t do that.�

�What?�

�What you just did.�

�What, you mean this?�

�Harry! We�re at work-�

�We�re in a closed office.�

She watched as he aimed his wand at the door and uttered a locking spell.

�But now we�re in a locked office,� he said as he turned back to her.

�Yes, but that�s not um... oh... goodness. Um... I see you�re feeling better now, at least?�

�Hmm. Actually, I�m more concerned about how you�re feeling.�

Ginny felt herself give in. She felt her world go topsy-turvy as she sank into what surely had to be bliss. When Harry later pulled away from her, she watched him with cautious eyes, her heart beating a like a drum in her chest.

He smiled at her. �I promise I won�t do that again. Although since you really seemed to like it-�

�Help me up, you git.�

He offered her a hand and pulled her up. �Remind me later to let you know all the things I love about you. Starting with that little sigh you just made...�

Ginny felt shaky all over. Her heart just wouldn�t be able to take all this. She stepped away from him.

�There should be a Ministry of Magic decree against you.�

�Oh? It wasn�t that bad was it?�

Ginny shook her head. �You�re incorrigible. Who knew?�

Harry grinned cheekily at her. He walked over to the desk and rolled up the parchment they had been working on.

�Well, we should get this to Amelia�s office, at any rate. With or without the painting.�

Ginny stared at him as though she�d never seen him before. How could he be so calm and collected? �You amaze me.�

�I know.�

Rolling her eyes, she looked down at her crumpled robe and swore. She used her wand to cast a Straightening Spell and ignored Harry�s chuckles.

�Don�t know why you�re laughing. Your hair looks a mess, Harry.�

�My hair always looks a mess, Ginny.�

She raised her head and looked at him. �Too true. Well, come on, let�s get that to Amelia and then we can go to St. Mungo�s and see if they�ve had any luck reviving Winifred.�

�And we can finally say hello to the engagement couple.�

Ginny stopped. She�d completely forgotten about Hermione and Ron. �Oh my goodness, you�re right. Do you suppose they�re cross at us?�

Harry shrugged. �I think they probably know we�ve been busy.�

Ginny nodded and then giggled. �Yeah and that we�ve been working too.�

Harry laughed. �Why Ginny Weasley... that was almost... wicked.�

�You�re a bad influence.�

�I see that.�

�You don�t seem to care much.�

Harry just smiled at her and she felt that flush... that flush of heat that she was now recognizing as the �Harry� effect wash over her. She seriously needed to get her head clear if she was going to be any help to those missing girls. She was probably going to end up missing some vital clue or information that could help them.

Ginny didn�t know how dead right she was.