Disclaimer: Nothings mine, except me. Crys belongs to well… Crys.
A/N: Happy B-day Crys. This one's for you, may you cherish it forever or burn it with disgust.
"Ron, don't move there, you'll get
check mate!" Hermione said, absentmindly-stroking Crookshanks, who had gotten
considerably larger since the last time Harry had seen him.
Ron, Hermione and Harry
were sitting alone in a compartment on the Hogwarts Express. They had somehow
once again managed to find a cubicle all to themselves.
The train had just pulled
out of the station ten minutes ago and already the boys had a closing game of
wizard's chess.
"Hermione, who's the genius
here?" Ron asked, stunned that Hermione would even think of telling him how to
play wizard's chess.
"You are." She snickered.
"And who is the one that
has beaten just about everyone in the game?" Ron asked, looking at her, willing
her to agree with him.
"You have." She swallowed a
laugh and nodded, her face red.
"Good. Now let me play the
game." He picked up the pawn and moved it forward.
With a swift of the hand,
Harry shifted his knight into checkmate. Ron had lost.
"Damn it Hermione!" His
face was red.
"Oh no Ron, you were right. You're the master."
Hermione said with fake innocence. She curled her feet under her knees and
returned to Hogwarts: A History.
After many sneers from his
chess pieces ("An idiot you are, anyone can see that coming", "How thick are
you, the sweet lady was right!") he managed to stuff them in his bag.
Detriments could still be heard from them.
"So," Ron said, attempting
a conversation. "What about Quidditch this year? Shall it be as grand now that
Wood's off the team?"
"I don't know, depends on
the new captain. I hope it is Fred or George. Angelina's a great player but she
isn't good at calling the shots."
"Yea, just as long as we win this year-"
Just then, the door to the compartment opened. A long-legged girl with brown hair and brown eyes stumbled in; Harry spit up the hot chocolate he had taken a sip from. "So sorry," she said dusting herself off and casting a glance towards Harry. "Thought it was empty. So... can I sit with you?"
"Er... yea
sure." Harry said, pushing Ron over. He was oddly under her spell, strictly
speaking of course.
"Thanks." She smiled a
dazzling smile and Harry made a nervous smile, scooting over more.
"Umph." Ron said. Harry had scooted over so far he pushed Ron off the seat. "Thanks a lot Harry. Let a girl get in the way of our friendship why don't you!"
Hermione giggled over the book. She slid over to let Ron have room on her bench. He sat rather close, so close their arms brushed against each other's. Ron blushed, his ears going red; Hermione's too, though she sank deeper into her book.
"So... er..." Harry was flabbergasted. He wanted to talk to her. He had to talk to her. He just couldn't. Darn.
"So why are you down here and not in with the rest of your friends?" Ron peered closer at her robes. "You're a Ravenclaw."
"Yes well, it seems that my friends have suddenly taken an interest in some actor called Ben Affleck. Never mind the fact he's marrying that J. Lo person. " The girl was a gesture person. The kind, where if you weren't careful, could poke your eye out.
Hermione
snorted. "Don't seem to mind he's off the market?" Ron and Harry stared. They'd
never heard her say 'off the market'. Could this girl be bringing out the
well... girl in Hermione?
"Guess not. Me, I'm more of a
Mekhi Phifer person." Hermione's eyes were round. She actually squealed. Yes
squealed ladies and gentleman, a real genuine squeal. I KNOW! Ron and Harry
couldn't believe it either.
"Did we just here Hermione squeal?" Ron asked Harry.
Harry nodded, almost not believe it himself. "Yes Ron, I think we did."
"Oh no." Hermione said. "He's cute, but Ewan McGregor, hands down, is the hottest."
Harry groaned. Why did he get the feeling this would be a very annoying ride?
The girls spent the rest of the ride arguing over whether Hollywood marriages would last, (If Tom and Penelope marry, that'll be the end of the world, I am telling you!).
Ron and Harry listened quite boredly. Eventually they whipped out wizard's chess again. It wasn't a very interesting game; Ron's pieces refused to listen to him and instead created their own plays.
Quite suddenly, the train stopped.
"We're here already?" Hermione said. She sounded disappointed, obviously she had taken a liking to the Ravenclaw girl.
"Looks like it." Ron muttered as he lost for the fifth time in a row.
"I better go." The girl said, shoving the book Hermione had given her to borrow into her sack. "My friends will be looking for me." She got up to leave.
"Wait!" Harry said. "We don't even know your name."
"Oh. Right, that would be helpful. I'm Crys." The girl said, flipping her hair.
"That's Ron Weasley, Hermione Granger and I'm Harry Potter." Harry said, with emphasis on his name. Crys didn't seem impressed however. "You know... Harry Potter, the boy-who-lived?"
She nodded. "Nice to meet you all. Hermione, I'll have the book back to you, promise."
Hermione smiled and gave her one last wave before Crys left.
"Well, she's certainly seemed very nice. I hope I see her again." Hermione said. She shot a concerned look at Harry. "What's wrong?" She asked.
Harry didn't seem right at all. His face was pale and he had shrunk into the seat. "She didn't seemed impressed at all. I'm Harry Potter and she didn't care."
Ron and Hermione exchanged a look, both choking back giggles. "Oh Harry." Hermione said, placing a consoling hand on his shoulder. "I'm sure she cared."
Ron, failing in his attempts to refrain from laughing, snorted. "Harry fancies her."
Harry gave a startled look. "I do not." He said. Hermione and Ron looked at him doubtfully.
" 'She didn't seemed impressed at all,' "Ron mimicked. He held a hand to his forehead and fell limply in a 'Harry Potter in love' impression.
"Honestly Ron, get up." Hermione said, still trying to be sympathetic to Harry. She kicked her foot quite hard into his gut.
Ron laughed. "This is great. Harry's swooning over her, probably day-dreaming right now over snogging her."
Hermione threw him 'the look'. "Shut up Ron. It's not like you haven't had your fancies. Or you have forgotten Fleur?"
That killed Ron's spirit. In true Ron and Hermione fashion, the two had called a silent truce to the events of last year. Their hot-tempered fights and silent truces was the only thing about the two of them that Harry couldn't understand. Well that and the fact that neither one of them seemed to know they fancied each other.
So Ron spent the entire carriage ride to the castle sulking, since Ron was, so was Hermione. Harry seemed content just looking out the window and thinking of her.
*****
"Wow! Hermione, try the Yorkshire pudding! It's delicious." Ron said. He loaded two puddings onto her plate. Hermione looked at the two in disgust.
"There's no way I can eat two!" Taking one in her hand, she put it on Harry's plate.
That's where the pass-the-pudding game ended. Harry took two bites of the pudding and it was gone. "You're right. It is good."
"Hullo!" Harry looked up. (They all did, but we're following Harry right now.) There she was. Crys.
She had put her hair was up in a ponytail and was wearing a diamond, bewitched to float in the nave of her neck.
"Uh... er... hullo?" Harry squeaked.
The twins, who were sitting next to Harry, snorted in their carrot soup. "Nice one Harry." George mumbled. Harry blushed, his ears turning redder by the second.
"Do you want to sit with us?" His voice was high pitched.
"Yea, I'd love to!" She took a seat next to Hermione across from Harry and shot a killer smile at Harry.
There was muttered whispers and gasps from every corner of the Great Hall. Surely a Ravenclaw didn't sit down at the Gryffindor.
But as the entire school population (teachers and ghosts included) watched Ron place a Yorkshire pudding on her plate to try, they slowly believed it. And Crys was oblivious to the attention. Instead she struck up a conversation about the peanut clusters.
"They're my favorite food! I love them. Unfortunately, we can't have them at the Ravenclaw table, Julie Manner is allergic to peanuts."
"Gee. That sucks." Ron said, his mouth full of Yorkshire pudding. He couldn't seem to get enough of it.
"Ron that's disgusting. Shut your mouth." Hermione said, with a look of pure disgust on her face.
Ron opened it just to spite Hermione. It worked, but she got him. She shoved yet another pudding into his open mouth. He choked. Hermione was satisfied.
"Go Hermione!" Fred called. "Ron, she won. Again."
"Is it always like this?" Crys asked between her giggles.
"No," George said, "Hermione usually pelts him with the fish and chips."
"Oh." Crys said. She couldn't see the difference.
Harry gasped. It looked like someone was in Crys, a shadow or something actually in her.
"Crys… Crys!" He said, his voice in an awkwardly high pitch. "There's something… in you!"
"Huh?" Crys asked. But it was to late. The thing in her had dumped water over top of her head. "UGH!" Crys' cool and collected face quickly turned annoyed.
"Lindsay! How could you?" She tried to ring out some of the water on the floor but in the end decided a quick drying spell ("Driomendium") would work. "That water was freezing!" The ghost giggled.
"Was it?" She asked. Her voice was playful and alive, unlike any other ghost they had heard talk. The only one that came close was Moaning Myrtle, but even she wasn't like this one. "I thought the 10 ice cubes I put in would make it a refreshing blast to wake you up after the long ride from home."
Crys groaned becoming aware of the way the entire Gryffindor table was looking at her. "No look at what you did." She said. "This is Linds. She's the Ravenclaw ghost. She gets her kicks by annoying the hell out of me."
Lindsay was an odd ghost. She was also the exact opposite of Crys, strawberry blonde hair, green eyes, curvy figure, and white skin. The only similarity was the height; they were both "5'9.
"Hello." Linds said simply.
Random 'hello's went about the table. People didn't want to get on her bad side, or even good side. They had no desire of getting ice water poured over their heads.
"She woke up one day and realized she'd died in her sleep, then decided to reek havoc on the next person that happened to live sleep in her bed. That person just happened to be me. Can you hand me another peanut cluster Ron?" He handed her one but Lindsay stole it.
"Linds, you can't eat it. Don't even try." Too late. The cluster was down and out before Crys could stop her, lying in a quite disgusting pile on the floor.
Hermione, Ron and Harry made a disgusted noise. The twins on the other hand were intrigued.
"Go away Lindsay. Go see Dumbledore." Linds squealed.
"I could! I am." And she floated away.
"She has a ridiculous obsession with him. It's quite scary actually." Crys said over her water goblet.
Harry's attention went to the ghost and his headmaster. His eyes were twinkling as he talked to her, intrigued with whatever she was saying. He laughed. It was clear he loved her too.
"Of course, there is that poltergeist. He's fancies her." She nodded in the direction of Peeves, who was sulking in the corner.
"Peeves?" Ron, Hermione and Harry all asked together. Crys nodded.
"Did they train you to do say that together?" She reached across and closed Harry's dropped jaw.
"Well it's just er… Peeves doesn't seem to be the type that…"
"Fancies someone." Ron said simply, finishing Harry's sentence.
"Linds thinks it's stupid. She's American, you know them, innocent in every way, can't even see what's right in front of them. I was there when she decided to go play a couple tricks on some students with him. I told her it was a bad idea, 'You'll make him fall in love' I told her. She didn't think so." She sighed. "He's never been the same since."
By now dinner was over, people were filtering out, stuffed from the beginning of the year feast.
"Well, I better go." Crys said standing up.
She was across when Lindsay noticed she was leaving. The ghost followed her and soon they were in deep conversation.
"Well if you're going to get it over and done with Harry, better do it now." Hermione said. Ron nodded.
"What are you talking about?" Harry asked, stupidly.
"Well it's quite obvious you fancy her." Oliver Wood had come up behind the twins and sat besides them.
"Thanks everyone, for getting in my life."
Oliver winked (quite sexily too). "You're welcome."
Harry inhaled deeply. He had to do it.
"Crys!" He called, jogging to where the girl and ghost were waiting.
"Look, this may sound stupid but… in three weeks, there's a Hogsmede weekend, do you want… go with me?" He stumbled. They both stared blankly at him, making him feel like quite an idiot. "If you don't that's ok too. I mean, I'd understand."
"She'll go." Lindsay said, giggling.
Crys shot her an evil glare. "Of course I'll go with you Harry." And she smiled. Harry's knees went weak. "I'll see you then." She said and her and Linds started to walk back to their house.
Cheers came from the Gryffindor table. Harry blushed. He had finally asked a girl out, and she had said yes. He didn't notice though, the one wallflower that did not join in the celebration. Ginny Weasley was sitting at the end of the table with tears in her eyes.
*****
"Hurry up Ron!" Harry hissed, tugging on jeans under his robes.
"Ok, ok. Don't get your panties in a bunch." He said. Ron had spent the last 10 minutes trying to get his bed-head straightened.
"Wear these." Harry said, throwing him robes that Harry had just happened to find in Ron's truck.
"I WILL NOT!" Ron said and he threw them back to Harry in disgust. Harry opened the robes. They were the dress robes his mother had so horridly bought secondhand. Harry started laughing. "Well fine, I'll take more time to get ready, just to spite you." Harry stopped laughing.
Eventually, after what seemed like hours, Ron finally was ready. They went down to the common room where they found a very different Hermione.
Ron's jaw dropped. "What did you do?" He asked her.
She had done something; her hair was straightened and pulled back. Her eyes were glittery and she wore rouge on her lips.
"Too much?" She asked them.
"No," Ron gulped. "You look really good."
Hermione smiled and blushed, Ron did too.
"Thanks," She whispered to her hands.
"Come on! Let's go!" Harry grabbed both of his best friend's hands and tugged, pulling them out the Fat Lady Portrait.
They all ran to the Great Hall where they were meeting Crys. Well actually, Harry ran. Ron and Hermione were running to keep up with him.
They stumbled into the Great Hall.
"RON GET OFF!" Hermione said. It was in a tone that said she didn't really want him off.
"Fine." Ron rolled off.
Harry was the only one that hadn't fell, instead his hands were on his knees and he was gasping for breath.
"Well that was interesting." Lindsay floated over to them.
"Where's Crys?" Harry asked.
Lindsay smiled an evil smile. "You really want to know?"
"What did you do to her?" Harry had a look that could've killed, luckily, Linds was already dead.
"She's coming. Relax. Don't get your panties in a bunch!"
Harry threw his arms up in exasperation. "What's with my bunched up panties?"
Just then, at the quite odd declaration, Crys came in. "Uh…"
Harry brightened. "Don't ask. Well, shall we go?"
Crys nodded. She then noticed Ron and Hermione on the floor, yelling at each other. "What's with them?"
"They're in love but they don't know it yet." Harry said.
"Oh." She said, like it was the most obvious thing in the world.
"Hermione, Ron, you coming?" Harry called.
They got up and walked over, leaving no clue as to why they were yelling.
"Linds, what are you doing?" Crys asked.
"I was going to go terrorize some 1st years with Peeves." Crys rolled her eyes.
"Smart, make him fall in love with you more."
"That's what I'm planning on." Lindsay said, and she floated away.
"She's not
allowed out of the castle." Crys said as if it explained everything.
They walked out into the cold
September air, ready to have another Hogsmede weekend.
*****
"Well, I was a muggle. I have no traces back to wizards. It was really strange when I got my letter, we didn't even know this world existed." Crys said.
Hermione nodded. "It was like that for me too."
They were at The Three Broomsticks, drinking the best butterbeer they had ever had. That's what Harry thought at least. He was sitting with his best friends and Crys. What more could he want?
Just then Ginny walked in. And Harry choked.
Ginny was stunning. Next to Hermione (who looked pretty), she was gorgeous. Her red hair was in tight curls; her makeup (which she never wore) was light but elegant. Her robes were brand new, courtesy to her brothers who gave them as a celebration of their joke shop, and they fit her body beautifully. Harry couldn't take her eyes off of her.
She saw Harry staring at her, smiled and walked to the counter.
"Harry?" Crys asked. She followed his gaze to Ginny.
For some reason it made her happier.
"Hey," She shook him lightly. "Can I talk to you?"
Harry nodded.
They went outside and once again had to tolerate the cold air.
"Look." Crys said. Harry had a bad feeling that this was not going to be good. "You don't like me. I know you don't. I saw the way you looked at that girl, and I saw the way she looked at you. Go for it. Don't worry about me. I found another guy I like. You just go get her."
Crys started to walk away.
Harry who was still shocked said, "Hey Crys. Who's this other guy?"
Crys smiled. "Malfoy. Draco Malfoy."
Maybe it was better that relationship didn't last.
Harry walked into The Three Broomsticks again. He automatically spotted Ginny in a corner talking with a 4th year. He walked over to her.
"Ginny… er I …uh. Doyouwannagooutwithme?" Harry said, it was all in one word, he was nervous you see.
"What?" Ginny had a strange face on.
"Do you want to go out with me?"
Ginny looked at him as if trying to wake up from a daydream. "Oh yes Harry! I'd love too!"
She threw her arms around and hugged him. After Harry got over the shock, he hugged her too. Grinning like an idiot, of course.
WELL FINE! GO STARE AT HER ALL YOU WANT RON WEASLEY. IT DOESN'T MATTER THAT I'M SITTING RIGHT NEXT TO YOU! IT DOESN'T MATTER THAT I'M COMPLETELY AND MADLY IN LOVE WITH YOU!" The entire pub got quiet. Everyone turned to stare at Hermione who was now crying into her hands. "Now look what you did. Everyone's staring."
Ron looked really strange. He wore a face that not even Harry could understand. He stood up. He tried to open his mouth but no words came out. Instead he gave up.
The kiss happened quite suddenly. It was long and passionate.
When they pulled away, it was silent… then it erupted.
"It's about time!" George said, slapping his little brother's shoulder.
"Knew you had it in ya!" Fred added.
Ron blushed, Hermione too.
But they still managed to steal another kiss.