Author's Note: This random idea popped into my head, and I kind of wanted to tear away from the dramatic stuff that I usually write. This story is told in first person by Jenny McLaggen, Cormac McLaggen's younger sister that I just made up (Cormac was in the Slug Club). She's a first year, and so is her best friend Faith. Together, they're on a mission to get Harry and Hermione together (this is during Harry's sixth year). The main thing that I changed about the plot of HBP is that Ron and Lavender are together before the Christmas party. I haven't read HBP since I reread it six months ago, so please bear with any mistakes about the plot I might have made. This may seem like just a stupid story about two nosy first years, and sure, I guess it kind of is, but I'm enjoying writing it, and it's something that I would definately read. There are more chapters coming up, and I have a pretty good idea about what's going to happen in the next chapter. This won't be a long fic, either. Geez, I write really long Author's Notes, don't I? Well, without any further a due, here's the story :)
Delusional First Years: Mission HHr
Objective 1.0: The Hero, the Bookworm, and the Prat
I sat in the Gryffindor common room, practicing the levitating spell. "Wingardium leviosa!" I whispered as I pointed to my Potions book. It only shook a bit. Professor Flitwick had made it look so easy...Come on, I thought to myself. It's only a book...it's only a book... After a few more attempts, the book still would not lift off the ground. Suddenly, the portrait hole opened, and two sixth years walked into the room. After a closer look, I recognized them to be Harry Potter and Hermione Granger. They silently walked over to the couch in the center of the room and sat down beside each other. I was about to continue practicing the levitation spell, but the older witch and wizard were so quiet that I just knew something was going to happen. And I, Jenny McLaggen, being the main source of gossip of the Gryffindor first years, was not going to pass up such a chance to see a private conversation between Harry and Hermione. After all, I witnessed them hugging by the lake just a week ago. Who knew what would happen?
"Ron's such a prat!" Hermione exclaimed, throwing her hands up in the air.
"Just give him time. He'll come to his senses," Harry replied softly, staring into the flames of the lit fireplace.
Ron? Oh yeah, that Weasley kid...I had seen him snogging Lavender Brown all over the castle. Hermione's attitude sparked many questions for me, though. Hermione was calling Ron a prat, and Ron was going out with Lavender. The only explanation was that Hermione liked Ron. Wait...what? I was eager to rush upstairs and tell Faith Sparke that all of our conclusions of the romantic relationship between Harry and Hermione might as well have been thrown out of the garbage. After all our predictions and estimates...we were wrong the whole time. And I thought that Faith, who was muggleborn and had true mathematics education in muggle schools, wouldn't mess up such a guaranteed calculation.
"I mean, he just thinks that it's perfectly okay to snog Lavender Brown in every closet that comes into sight!" Hermione continued. Her bushy hair was bushier than usual, and tears began falling down her pale cheeks.
Harry seemed to not want to say anything. I wanted to punch him in the face and say, "Help the girl, already!" Still, he did nothing. Being a girl myself, I could tell from Hermione's tone of voice that she wanted Harry to say something as she continued ranting. Finally, she stood up, gave Harry a glare, and rush up to the girl's dormitories. Needless to say, my happy mood was now completely ruined. I decided to practice the levitation spell. "Wingardium leviosa!" I whispered. The book levitated slightly in a straight line. I silently wondered if I could levitate and object and throw it across a room, like levitating the pillows into the box during Charms. Harry was still sitting on the couch, staring into the fireplace in silence. Apparently, he had not heard me practicing the spell. I concentrated on the book, then the side of his head, and I whispered, "Wingardium leviosa!" The Potions book flew off the ground, zoomed across the room, and slammed against the side of Harry's head. He glanced over at the source of where the book had been thrown, but only spotted shadows.
That's what you get for not even bothering to help a heartbroken teenage girl.
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"Faith!" I exclaimed the next morning, trying to wake up my best friend. "Faith, get up!"
"Wha --?" was the reply. She rubbed her navy blue eyes and stretched her thin arms out, almost whacking me across the face. "What do you want?"
I rolled my eyes and shook her left shoulder. "Bookworm likes Ron Weasley." Bookworm was our codename for Hermione. Hey, you never know when codenames might come in handy. My mind was spinning at the speed of light to come up with a nickname for Ron...Prat would do for now, since Bookworm called him that.
"Ron Weasley?" Faith asked in disbelief. "That doesn't make any sense...she...she always liked...the Hero!" Yup, the Hero was Harry's codename.
I flipped by black hair behind my shoulder and looked at the window, where the morning sunlight was pouring in. I turned back to face Faith and asked, "What do you think we should do?" My best friend shook her head in defeat. But surely, there had to be something we could do. "Wait!" I exclaimed. I could literally see the lightbulb over my own head. "Cormac was invited to Professor Slughorn's Christmas party...Harry and Hermione are going there, too!"
"Yeah, but I thought that they didn't allow first years to go to the party," Faith said, rubbing her eyes again. "And your brother won't help us."
I waved away her comment. Pssh. We didn't need invitations. "Seth can lend us his Invisibility Cloak," I told her in pride. Seth, our other best friend, had gotten an Invisibility Cloak from his grandma or something like that...And Invisibility Cloaks are so rare. I heard Georgia Rent say that Harry Potter has one, but I only trust gossip that's coming from me.
"But Seth won't trust us with his Cloak! Remember what happened the last time we borrowed it?"
Oh yeah. I certainly remembered that.
"Well, he'll trust us this time," I reassured her.
Faith rolled her eyes and said, "How can you be so sure?" I didn't respond. Instead, I was scheming ways to sneak into the boy's dormitory and borrow Seth's Invisiblity Cloak.
"I have a plan," I finally said.
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Faith and I woke up at around midnight, when everyone else was asleep. We got dressed in black robes just to add to the sneaky effect. According to Faith, most muggles who were trying to steal something tended to wear black. I tucked my wand under my robes and tied my long, black hair back. I checked the watch that my dad had given me for my eleventh birthday, and I whispered to Faith, "Ready?" She nodded, and we both picked up Exploding Snaps (courtesy of Cormac) and made our way to the door of the boy's dormitory. We sat down and opened the game. Since the door was locked, and Faith and I hadn't even gotten close to mastering "Alohomora", we had to cause some sort of disruption so that the boys would wake up and walk outside. During the process, they would open the door of course, and we would slip inside.
If, of course, everything went as planned. Within a minute, one of the Snaps exploded. Dust flew everywhere, and we already heard the boys cursing and rushing to the door. Faith and I hid within the shadows as the door opened. I grabbed Faith's arm and pulled her through the dust. "Ouch!" I exclaimed as someone bumped into me.
"Who was that?" someone asked. I ran faster, and we eventually made it into the boy's dormitory. Everyone had been walking outside, and the dust was starting to fade away. We had to act fast. I spotted a nightstand with the Cloak on it. Well, that was easy.
"Faith! This way!" I whispered to her. We snuck over to the nightstand (no doubt that it was Seth's) and I snatched it and placed the Cloak over us. Within ten seconds, the boys returned to the dormitory. Seth was amongst them, rubbing his eyes and cursing under his breath. We watched him lay down on his bed, and he didn't seem to notice that his Cloak was gone.
Yeah, let's keep it that way.
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Faith and I were working on our Potions essays when Harry and Hermione walked into the common room. Hermione looked a little happier, while Harry appeared to be tired.
"Wait, so...Ron asked you to go the Christmas party?" Harry asked. Faith and I exchanged shocked looks. Thank goodness we were hidden in the shadows.
Hermione smiled and replied, "Yes."
"Why?"
"Harry James Potter!" Hermione exclaimed. "You're wondering why a boy has asked me to go to a party with him?"
"It's Ron," Harry reminded her calmly. "He's been snogging Lavender everywhere, even in the --"
"Yes, I'm aware of that, Harry," Hermione snapped back, folding her arms over her chest. I tried to concentrate on my Potions essay because first of all, I shouldn't have been so nosy to be so obsessed with these sixth years' lifes, and second of all, it was pretty upsetting to see the two friends argue.
"I just want to make sure that you don't get hurt again," Harry said. Awww. I could tell that Faith was thinking the same thing from the look on her face. Anyone with a brain could tell that the two were meant to be together. All they needed was a little push, like learning to ride those bicycles that Faith had told me about. The Prat was ruining everything.
Hermione sighed and said, "I'll be fine, Harry."
"He's going back to Lavender after the party, you know that, right?" Harry said. I couldn't help but agree with him.
"I can't believe I'm hearing this!" Hermione said, throwing her arms into the air. "I thought that you'd support me through this, but apparently, you're not."
Harry ran his fingers through his hair and said, "I wouldn't be a good friend if I was lying to you."
Hermione stood up and stormed off, probably to the library or where ever bookworms normally went. Harry buried his face in his hands and whispered,"She deserves better than that." He looked so helpless, trying to help his friend, but all he was really doing was pushing her away. Faith glanced at me, wondering what we should do. I was thinking about confronting him, but it was crucial that we had to keep ourselves under cover. I tried to continue completing my Potions essay, but I couldn't remember yesterday's lesson. So, I threw the essay beside me and took out my wand.
I spotted a feather on the floor and whispered, "Wingardium leviosa!" The feather shook a bit, but it didn't levitate. I tried a few more times, and the same thing happened. This really confused me, since I had been able to levitate a book and slam it against Harry's head, but I couldn't even lift a feather. "Wingardium leviosa!" I said in a louder voice. The feather started levitating, and Faith watched in amazement.
"Who's there?" Harry's deep voice echoed through the common room. The feather dropped to the ground. "Who's there?" he repeated.
Faith looked at me with a worried look. She certainly wasn't going to say anything. I stood up and emerged from the shadows. "I'm just practicing the levitating spell," I told him. "Sorry if I disturbed you."
"No, you didn't disturb me," he said.
"Er...alright..." I replied softly. There was an awkward silence as Harry looked back into the fireplace. I picked up my Potions essay and walked back up the girl's dormitory. There was no use to stay there when Harry had detected our existence. I heard Faith gather her books and follow me up the stairs.
Author's Note: Not the most exciting ending, but I figured that I'd leave off from there. If you have the time, please write a review. It's nice inspiration for me to continue :)
