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Private Places; or, How to Find a Place for Serious Snogging.

A/N: This is set in Harry's sixth year, and is not Canon. What do inventive couples do, when they want some privacy? Let's see what a little knowledge, a little magic and some ingenuity can do.


Harry was sitting in the common room late one night which, in itself, was not all that uncommon. Harry had serious matters on his mind most of the time, and rarely slept long or well.

Tonight though, he was not thinking about Sirius, or Voldemort, or the fact that Professor Dumbledore thought he would have to kill Voldemort before he could get on with his life. No, tonight Harry had a much more immediate and pressing problem.

He was seeing Ginny Weasley, and the two of them had decided that it was time to find a place to have a bit of intimate time, well away from anyone else, and preferably, where they would not be interrupted by other couples seeking the same thing.

They had discussed all the normal places, broom closets, the Astronomy Tower, and everywhere in-between. Those places, while decent, all had one big flaw. Everyone used them. After a thousand years of students, Sneaky Slytherins, Smart Ravenclaws, Pragmatic Hufflepuffs and Courageous Gryffindors, every place that could be found on the grounds had been found, and they were open secrets. Nobody ever openly discussed them, but by the time you wanted them, you knew where they were.

That was Harry's problem tonight. He was caring for his Broomstick, trimming frayed twigs and such, but over the last five years, that had become an automatic task, something to do with his hands while he thought about other things. While he polished and trimmed, he was attempting to find some place, any place that a hundred other students didn't use.

Harry thought about the secret tunnels, but they were annoying in several ways. First, most of them were not heated, and filled with cold drafts, not an atmosphere conductive to the kinds of things the couple wanted to do. Chilly breezes wafting across one's skin tended to dampen the highest ardour, and that was not what Harry wanted.

They could sneak out, and go to the Shrieking Shack, but that was a long trip, only good if you had quite a bit of time. If you simply wanted five minutes to kiss, and remind your red-headed lady that you were thinking of her, that was out of the question.

Harry finished his Broomstick and packed the care kit away. Leaning back, he stared at the ceiling while he thought some more. There had to be something he could do. He absently watched a spider making a web, as he ran his hand over the shaft of his Broomstick, looking for splinters or rough spots.

It came to him then, a bolt out of the blue. He knew how to have all the time he wanted with Ginny, while being private, safe and warm. Harry grinned and made a note to bring the spider a fly. He went up to his room, looking in "The Standard Book of Spells" for a spell they had covered only briefly, but which would be very useful to Harry now.

Two weeks later, Hermione and Ron sat in the common room, by sheerest chance, at the same table where Harry had thought of the place to go. "Hermione, they have to have found a new place." Ron was regarding his girlfriend with irritation. "They are gone for an hour or more at a time, and no one, not even you and I can find them, and we know them better than anyone."

Hermione had to admit that Ron had a point there. Harry and Ginny would disappear, and come back blushingly happy and pleasantly messy, but no one had ever seen them snogging. That meant that they could not be using any of the regular places, because no matter when you went to any of them, you would get interrupted sooner or later.

"So what do you want to do, follow them around until they go there so we can use it?" asked Hermione. She rolled her eyes as Ron actually took the idea seriously and appeared to be considering it. "Ron, just forget it. We'll have to find another way to find out where it is."

"Where what is?" Ron and Hermione both jumped, twisting their necks to see the very pair under discussion regarding them curiously. "What did you lose?" asked Harry, "maybe we can help you find it."

Hermione, who had never been one to beat around the bush, saw this as the perfect opening. "Actually Harry, we were wondering if you and Ginny would share your private place. I don't fancy a repeat of last Friday."

Hermione and Ron both turned bright red. They had been caught snogging in a closet, but that was not the worst of it. They had been caught by a Slytherin couple, and the Slytherins had wasted no time informing the school that they had caught a Gryffindor Prefect snogging in a closet.

Harry and Ginny tried to keep straight faces, but Harry had a small smile at the edge of his lips. "We don't actually have a spot."

Ron rolled his eyes. "Come off it, Harry. You can't just disappear for hours at a time, and think no one is going to notice. There are a few people trying to figure out where you and Ginny go off to." Ron stopped suddenly, covering his face. "I so do not want to think about what you're doing, either."

It was Harry's turn to roll his eyes. "You prat, we haven't done anything you and Hermione haven't done."

Ron froze. "Harry, don't say that again. The picture of Ginny doing anything like that is liable to kill me."

Hermione's head came around to glare at Ron so fast that Harry was surprised she didn't get whiplash. "Ron," she said in a low, calm tone, "would you care to elaborate on that comment?"

Ron opened his mouth and was about to say something when her tone of voice penetrated his skull. The last time she had sounded like that, he had been Hermione-less for a week, until she thought he had suffered enough. Ron was not as smart as Hermione, but he did learn. "She's my sister. Think of your parents doing anything we do."

Hermione blinked and then shook her head. "No, thank you." She shivered, as if something had crawled up her back. "That's an ugly picture."

Ron nodded. "I think so too, when it's Ginny. She's my little sister after all."

Hermione stared at Ron, trying to judge if he meant that, or if he was simply trying to dig his way out of the hole he'd nearly climbed into.

Harry took pity on Ron and distracted Hermione. "I'm serious, we don't have a place." He looked at Ginny, asking a question with his eyes. Ginny bit her lip for a second and then shrugged.

Harry turned back to the other couple, who were watching them with avid eyes. "Right. We'll tell you, but I want a promise that you will only tell one other couple, and not until we're gone, or about to go."

Harry grinned at their expression. "The more people that know about this, the sooner it's going to be like every other snogging place in school, overused and crowded."

Hermione and Ron looked at each other, and then turned back to Harry. "We promise," Hermione said. "One couple, at the end of seventh year."

Harry nodded and kissed Ginny quickly. "I'll be right back," he said, and went up the boy's stairs. The remaining couple looked at Ginny but she just smiled.

"Harry thought of it," she said, "let him tell you about it." She made a face. "Besides, the thought of making it easier for you to snog Hermione is just gross."

Ron bristled, but Hermione put a hand on his arm, distracting him. "You were just saying that thinking of her doing things was disturbing, Ron. She probably feels the same way."

Harry came back down the stairs and he had something in his hands. Two somethings in fact. One was a scroll, which he handed to Hermione, and the other he handed to Ron.

Hermione opened the scroll and began reading. A few minutes later she looked up, examining the thing in Ron's hands. It was a long piece of mesh, and Hermione quickly identified it as a Muggle hammock.

She looked at the scroll again, and Harry could see the wheels turning in her head as she figured out what Harry had figured out that night watching the spider. "Brilliant, Harry," she said, "absolutely brilliant." Ron was staring at her, confused.

Hermione smiled and whispered something in his ear. Ron listened and his eyes got wide. He looked up at the ceiling and then grinned at Harry. "Harry, you're a bloody genius." He looked at Hermione and smiled. "Fancy a bit of flying, love?"

Hermione frowned. "Not really," she said, "but if it will keep Mr. Filch, or worse yet, Draco from catching you with your hand on my bum, let's go do it." The couple went up their respective stairs, reappearing in a few minutes with Broomsticks.

Ron grinned cheekily at them as he went out the portrait hole. "Don't wait up, mate." The next thing Harry and Ginny heard was a solid thud. "Oww," Ron said, "Crikey, Hermione, what did you do that for?"

Harry and Ginny shared a laugh as the portrait hole closed behind the couple. Harry looked at the red-headed girl that had captured his heart. "Miss Weasley," he said, "would you care to join me in examining the ceiling?"

Ginny just smiled and pulled her Broomstick from her pocket as Harry did the same with his. Two quick charms later, the Broomsticks were their normal size, and Harry was getting another hammock out of his pocket. The couple checked to make sure no one was in the common room and then mounted their Broomsticks. They rose to a point just under the ceiling and affixed the hammock between the Broomsticks.

"Consisto," they chanted together, and their respective Broomsticks froze in place. They climbed out on the hammock, showing the ease of much practice. When they were close together, Harry reached out.

"Invisibulos," he said, and the Broomsticks, the hammock and the people lying on it disappeared from view. "Silencio," came from the now invisible couple, and that was the last anyone saw or heard from them that day.


OoOoOoO Author's notes OoOoOoO

"Consisto" according to my Latin dictionary, means: 'Standstill, be at a.'

Invisibulos is obvious, or should be, even though we do not have a Canon mention of the verbal component of the invisibility Charm.

Silencio is of course, strictly Canon.

Raven