A/N: This story owes its life to a plot bunny that I first noticed in the Viridian Dreams Yahoo! group. I lurk in a few groups, and this one caught my eye. The premise is a Groundhog Day situation for Harry, but instead of only one day of his life repeating, he's stuck repeating the week before the ball, needing to take a different girl each time until he takes the "correct" girl to the ball to show her a good time. I started making a few notes and found the story writing itself. This is only the first chapter, and I already have the next couple started on my computer, with more chapters in my head. Two things I'm not sure about right now: A) How long this story is going to end up being and B) Who the correct girl is. One thing I am sure of is that I'm doing my best to make this a funny light hearted story. Oh, and since it's been so long since I've seen the movie Groundhog Day, I did some checking up on Wikipedia, and I'm trying to put at least one reference to the movie in each chapter.
Harry Potter and the Worst Week(s) of his Life
Chapter 1
The Day After the Ball or Six Days Before the Ball:
Harry woke up with a groan, the alarm spell built into his bed waking him up far too early after the night he had last night. Harry had stayed at the ball much longer than he should have, not caring about his schoolwork since all exams for him had been canceled. Parvati and Padma had stomped off in a huff, leaving him and Ron mooning after their respective crushes. Harry half-hoped that this might be the jolt needed to get Ron to admit his feelings for Hermione. Of course, he was glad that Ron hadn't chosen to do so while she was on her date with Krum. Even the romance-blind Harry knew that would have been a recipe for disaster. So his perfectly valid excuse of keeping an eye on Ron gave him the time needed to let him keep his own watch on Cho Chang.
He spent most of the evening in fantasies where he noticed that Cho wasn't enjoying herself with Cedric, who for some reason had stopped acting like the gentleman he was, and swooped in to protect her. Of course, the frustratingly uncooperative Cedric hadn't made an untoward move all night, none that Harry noticed or Cho called him on in front of the rest of the school, at least. Long after he had grown tired of watching to two of them enjoy each other's presence, Ron was still watching Hermione and Krum like a hawk. Harry would never breathe a word of this to Ron, but it seemed to him that Hermione was enjoying herself even more than Cho was. And Krum was perfectly behaved all night as well. Harry had tried to get Ron upstairs to their dorm, but he insisted on keeping a watch on Hermione.
Harry hadn't managed to get Ron to bed until after 2 A.M. He could swear the last thing he did before he fell asleep was disable the alarm spell, which was why he was so annoyed at hearing it blare out the time (8:30 A.M.) and that it was time for breakfast. He wanted to turn it off and go back to sleep, but he could hear through the curtains that surrounded his bed that everyone was up and moving. Was he the only one who couldn't survive on only a few hours of sleep?
The champion has to set an example, he reminded himself, so Rise and Shine! Groggily, he got out of bed, nodding a quick hello to the other boys in the dorm and set out to the bathroom to perform his morning ablutions. He was still only half-awake when he stumbled into the Great Hall for breakfast, so all the talk about the Ball surprised him only in that pretty much the whole school, plus the other two, were gossiping about last night. Had he been slightly more awake, he would have heard everyone talking about who was going to be going with whom, instead of what had gone on the last night. He was surprised that so many people were awake after last night, considering there was no class today or tomorrow. He just shrugged as he sat down and loaded up his usual breakfast fare. I guess the people who actually had a good time were too excited to sleep much, he thought. Then he heard something that hit his brain with the force of a jolt of lightning.
"C'mon, Hermione. If you've got a date, you shouldn't be too embarrassed to let us know who you're going with. At least tell us his name if you won't go with Harry or me."
Harry spoke without thinking. "C'mon, Ron, you know who she went with. You watched her dancing with Krum all night." He speared another breakfast sausage and bit the end off without realizing the effect his words had on the occupants of the breakfast table nearest him. Hermione was staring at him, her face deathly white. Ginny, right next to her was looking back and forth between Hermione and Harry, trying to figure out just what he meant. Ron tried to pass it off as a joke.
"Good one, Harry. Imagine, Krum asking our Hermione. She wouldn't give him the time of day." He trailed off as he saw Hermione's face.
"H-h-how did you know Viktor asked me?" Hermione asked in a small voice. She turned to Ginny with an accusing look on her face. Ginny immediately backed away.
"I didn't tell him, I promise." Ginny looked at Ron, whose face was rapidly darkening as he realized the news was true. The fact that Harry had spoken in past tense in referring to the ball was rapidly forgotten as the identity of Hermione's mysterious date spread up and down the Gryffindor table like wildfire. Hermione, her face quickly turning as red as the Weasley's hair, quickly got up from the table.
"We'llbelateforclass," she mumbled, grabbing her books and rushing out of the hall. By now, the news had spread to the other tables, and the volume of the gossip was rising so fast that Harry's shout of "But there's no class today!" was drowned out. Harry remained the only person sitting at the table as the rest of the House cleared out. He was starting to figure out that something was seriously wrong, but he wasn't sure just what was happening.
"I want to know how you knew about Krum," Ron hissed as he grabbed his gear and left, the look on his face promising Harry that they would have a much more in-depth discussion later.
"What. The. Hell!" Harry mumbled. He looked down, determined to finish his breakfast, and in doing so, missed seeing the swooping figure of Professor Snape bearing down on his position. His silky voice cut through Harry's thoughts.
"I realize that as one our our school... champions, you are exempt from final exams, Potter. That does not, however, mean that skipping class is permitted. It would be a huge blow to your legion of fans if you were stuck in detention on the day of the second task." Snape's sarcasm managed to cut through Harry's confusion. He figured that he might as well play along until he could figure out just what is going on. There was only one problem.
"Um, Professor Snape..." Harry almost quailed as the Potions Professor turned back to glare at him, but he pressed on. "I'm a little confused, still half-asleep. What day is it? What's my first class today?"
Snape stared at him for a long time, trying to figure out just what Potter was playing at. Finally he answered. "I am not your personal calendar, Potter, nor can I be expected to do your job of remembering your schedule. 5 points from Gryffindor." He didn't even give Harry time to make his usual protest as he turned and stalked away.
Harry scrambled up from the table. Maybe he could sneak up to his room to find out what the heck was going on. Then he noticed Professor Snape watching him from across the room. He was sure that he would be followed if he headed anywhere besides his next class, whichever that was. Fortunately, he had a plan.
He stopped right outside the Great Hall. The corridor was empty, for now.
"Dobby! Are you there?" The little elf popped into view in front of him.
"Harry Potter, sir calls on Dobby?" Indeed, Dobby seemed overjoyed at the idea.
"Yes, Dobby. Quickly, I have a bit of a problem. I don't know what day it is!" Harry quickly explained in a whisper.
"Has Harry Potter, sir lost his memory? Dobby knows a spell for that!"
"NO!" Harry said, hurriedly, cutting off Dobby's motions. "If anything, I have too much memory. I just don't know what my first class is."
Dobby looked at him a little confused. But this was Harry Potter, sir, the greatest wizard alive. If he needed Dobby to tell him what day it was, then Dobby would do it! "It is Monday today, Harry Potter, sir. Harry Potter, sir has Herbology first today."
Herbology on Monday, now all he had to figure out was what the hell had happened to him. "Thanks, Dobby. Can I ask you one more favor?"
"Anything, Harry Potter, sir!" Dobby looked ecstatic that he was able to help him out.
"I left my books and supplies in my room. Could you get them for me and meet me outside of the Greenhouse in a few minutes?" Dobby started nodding so hard, Harry was momentarily worried that his head might fall off.
"Dobby is happy to help Harry Potter, sir! Dobby will be there right away with your books!" Dobby disappeared with a pop and Harry turned to rush off to the Greenhouse. He hoped that he wouldn't be too late, or that Professor Sprout wouldn't be too harsh. Not all the teachers were as strict as Professor Snape. On the other hand, he had stolen some of the glory of being school champion from Cedric, one of the members of Professor Sprout's House. He could only hope for the best.
By the time he got to the Greenhouse, Dobby was already waiting with all the gear Harry needed, bouncing up and down.
"Hurry, Harry Potter, sir! Professor Sprouts is just calling the role now!"
"Thank you, Dobby!" Harry whispered in a rush as he quickly donned the protective gear and grabbed his books, rushing into the greenhouse just in time to hear the Professor call out "Harry Potter?"
"Here!" he said from the back of the room, obviously not at his workstation. Used to the feeling by now, he could feel the curious stares of the whole class, including the Professor. "I, uh, had to use the restroom?" He offered lamely, mainly to get the expected laugh from the rest of the class at the remark.
"That was cutting it mighty close, Mr. Potter," Professor Sprout said with the characteristic lack of warmth that she had displayed since Harry had become champion. "Go ahead and take your station. And try to remember to schedule enough time in the mornings for any personal business before you come to my class."
Harry made his way to the table he shared with Ron and Hermione, glad that the laughter that followed Professor Sprout's remarks showed that he had fooled everyone. Mostly everyone he told himself as he saw his friends' faces. Both Hermione and Ron were still looking at him like he had grown another head, an expression, that while he had gotten used to from the rest of the Wizarding World, he had hoped to have seen the last of from his friends. Not only that, but for once he had the middle of the table. Ron and Hermione had always worked side-by-side. It had become enough of a habit that Harry hadn't had to nudge them together for quite some time. His revelation at breakfast must have something to do with that. He could overhear the rest of the class changing the topic of conversation from his tardy arrival back to Hermione's surprise date. He carefully avoided both his friends' gazes as he took his place.
"Now, today, class, we'll be discussing the properties and care of the African Sleeping Violet. Can anyone tell me their main characteristics." And now Harry knew when he was. The African Sleeping Violet, he thought, we did that the week right before the ball. So, for some reason, he was stuck the Monday before the ball, and had until Sunday, Christmas, to try to figure out what had happened to him.
Suddenly he realized that Hermione had not answered the question, the way she had just last week (if "last week" is the correct term, he thought). If he was a betting man, he would have wagered that Professor Sprout was just as surprised as the rest of the class that Hermione hadn't raised her hand yet. Neville, for some reason, was uncharacteristically silent as well in what was his best class. Probably still working up the nerve to ask Ginny, Harry thought. Fortunately, he remembered the answer and raised his hand.
"Mr. Potter?" Sprout called on him, even more surprised at the way today was turning out.
"The extract from the root of the African Sleeping Violet is one of the primary ingredients in the Dreamless Sleep Potion. And the aroma from the a field full the blooming flowers can knock an unprepared person unconscious."
"Very good, Mr. Potter," Professor Sprout said, sounding surprised in spite of herself. "Ten points to Gryffindor. Now, like Mr. Potter said, it takes a full field of these to complete subdue a person, but in close quarters, like this greenhouse, the odor can build up. Therefore, everyone will use noseplugs this period. And you'll also need your gloves as we extract the root juice. The undiluted juice we'll be draining can also have adverse effects on unprotected skin. Watch closely as I demonstrate the proper method of collecting the juice." She went through the motions that Harry remembered from the first time he took this class and soon, the class was copying her as they started to concentrate on something other than the news about Hermione.
Harry tried to ignore the glances from his friends and concentrate on his plants, but it was a losing battle.
"How did you know?" Hermione hissed as she went through the motions with her plant.
"Yeah, how did you know?" Ron echoed, the unspoken, "and why didn't you tell me before" seeming like a shout in Harry's mind. Harry sighed. He had just made his peace with Ron after the first task, and it was all about to go down the drain because of some weird event. And he didn't even know what was going on yet! He decided to tell the truth, at least, as much of it as he knew.
"Look, I'm not sure exactly how I know what I know. Something weird is going on, but I don't have time to tell you everything now. I'll explain after class." Hermione seemed to accept his delay, but Ron still glared at Harry for daring to keep such an important secret as Viktor Krum asking Hermione to the Yule Ball from him. It was going to be a long class period...
Fortunately, the period after Herbology was free on Mondays. Hermione and Ron each grabbed one of Harry's arms and almost dragged him to an unused classroom.
"Now, how did you find out about Viktor?" Hermione demanded angrily. "I only told Ginny and she swears she didn't tell you."
"Ginny knew?!" Ron exclaimed.
"Yes, she did. And you will not give her a hard time about it, or so help me, Ronald Weasley, I will break into the Restricted Section to find special curses just to use on you!" Even Ron quailed at the fury in Hermione's face. Harry tried not to laugh. It was actually pretty easy, he just had to remember that something weird was going on, once again involving him.
"I know he asked you, Hermione, because I saw you dancing with him all night last night." He was about to explain about living this week over again, but he was interrupted.
"You were in the Astronomy Tower last night?" Hermione squeaked. And with that, Harry's already weird day took a brand new turn down Twilight Zone avenue.
"I... wasn't," he said, "and I'm going to pretend that I never, ever, ever heard that."
Hermione's face went absolutely crimson at what she inadvertently revealed, and she sat down at one of the desks, refusing to meet either of her two friends' eyes.
"What I was trying to say, was that last night, I was at the Yule Ball, went to sleep, and then woke up this morning, a week prior to the Ball. That's how I knew the answer in Herbology, and that's how I knew that you went with Viktor, Hermione." Hermione just nodded, her face in her hands, unable to think of anything to say without embarrassing herself further. Ron seemed to be following Harry's idea and did his best to pretend that he never heard Hermione's admission. Instead, he tried to focus on what Harry was saying.
"So you mean you traveled back in time or something, like with a Time-Turner?"
"I guess, but this was almost a full week, not only a couple of hours, and I have no idea how it happened!" Harry's frustration was leaking into his voice, despite his best efforts to remain calm. "From what it looks like, it's not time travel because I'm not running into myself anywhere. It's like I'm living this week all over again."
"So something must have happened at sometime this week to cause you to repeat the week over." Hermione finally spoke up. Harry desperately hoped she was over her mortification to be able to help. "Is today the way you remember it?"
"Well, aside from waking up thinking it was a week later, and accidentally revealing your secret date to the whole school, everything seems the same, so far."
"So does that mean you know who we end up taking to the ball?" Ron asked, doing his best to ignore the whole Hermione situation.
"Oh bloody hell, you mean we haven't asked them yet?" Harry remembered having enough trouble getting up the courage to ask Parvati and Padma the first time. Of course, now that he thought about it, once he actually stopped thinking about it and actually asked, it was pretty easy. Plus, they did say yes, and he had no reason to believe they'd say no this time around. It had been tonight, he realized that he ended up asking them, after he had asked Cho up in the Owlery and gotten turned down, this afternoon, a mistake he wasn't going to repeat.
"Well, at least this time I can stop you before you ask Fleur, Ron," Harry said with a smirk.
"I... I did what?" Ron gulped, a sick look on his face. Hermione, for her part, was trying unsuccessfully to keep the look of glee off her face. It disappeared quickly when Ron looked her way. A quick glare on his part was enough to keep her silent. He turned back to Harry to ask the question again, but Harry answered before he could repeat himself.
"I took Parvati, and you took Padma, Ron." And they had a horrible time because we were both too caught up with the girls we wanted to take in the first place. Harry resolved to do things better this time. Maybe he got a second chance, as crazy as it seemed, to do things right. Now he wouldn't embarrass himself in front of Cho, or be stuck all night mooning after her. Of course, he'd have to find some way to keep Ron from screwing everything up somehow.
"Hermione, I've got to talk to Ron for a minute, alone. Could you find some studying to do? Classes, books, my competition?" The last dig got a snort from Ron, who actually seemed to find a little humor in the situation.
"Ha, ha," Hermione said, bumping Harry against the desk as she walked towards the door. But she had a small smile on her face. Harry didn't want to think about it, but he figured she was probably on her way to do just that. When she was gone, Harry turned to Ron.
"You're not going to mess anything up for her, are you?"
"What? Of course not! It's great that she got with Krum, now that I think about it." Ron had a smile on his face, as if to say that for once he had outsmarted Hermione. "She obviously picked him to make me jealous. I mean, look at it! Krum, from Bulgaria? About three years older than us? She obviously isn't really interested in him. She probably had a horrible time at the ball, right? You must have noticed."
"Yeah, about that. That's what I wanted to talk to you about. You were horrid towards Padma until she and her sister ditched us to spend time with some boys from Durmstrang. You watched Hermione like a hawk all night. And she noticed, and she wasn't happy with you trying to ruin her night.
"What she did obviously worked to make you jealous, only I don't think that's what she was trying to do. She honestly seemed to be having a good time with Krum, and you need to realize that you waited too long to ask her." Ron's face got darker the more Harry talked, but he kept his calm.
"Wait a second. Why did Parvati ditch you? She was at the ball with one of the champions, after all."
"That doesn't matter right now. What's important is..."
"It bloody well is important. Let me guess. You spent all night mooning over Cho, like I did with Hermione, is that right?" Harry's blush confirmed Ron's eerily accurate guess.
"Fine. You're right. I was just as bad as you. That's why I've decided not to do that this time. We'll take our own dates and pay attention to them and have a good time at the ball. Then, the next day, you can let Hermione know how you feel about her."
"She's just a friend, Harry, honest."
"Ron, I'm not going to respond to that. All I'm saying is that you'd better get together with her soon before I'm out a lot of money in your brother's pool."
"Wh-wh-what pool?!" Ron sputtered.
"The 'When Will These Two Come to Their Senses and Snog Said Senses Out of Each Other' Pool that Fred and George set up back in our second year."
"My second year?! I'm going to kill them!" Ron stormed out of the room before Harry could even move. Of course, the only moves Harry made for the next few minutes was laughing uncontrollably.
Well, might as well get the asking part of this over with, he finally thought.
As he approached the common room, however, Lavender Brown was waiting for him outside.
"Can I talk to you for a minute, Harry?"
"Um, sure, I guess?"
"Look, I don't know if you've noticed, but ever since the Yule Ball was announced, Padma and Parvati have been hanging out in our Common Room the whole time, instead of spending some time in the Ravenclaw area."
"I guess. You're right, though. I've never really paid attention."
"Well, neither of them would ever forgive me if they found out I was talking to you, but Padma's had a bit of a crush on you for the past year or so. She's been trying to figure out some way to get you to ask her to the Yule Ball, but she knows you're too into Cho right now."
"Does the whole bloody school know?" Harry asked, exasperated.
"We're female, Harry. We know more about you boys than you know about yourself."
"Oh yeah, so what date do you have for Fred and George's pool?" Harry asked as a joke.
"Oh, they won't get a clue until at least sixth year. I'm guessing they won't do anything about it until seventh, though."
"Don't be too sure, not after today," Harry smirked.
"Fine, whatever. Just remember what I told you. I heard that Cedric just asked Cho to the Ball this morning, so you can forget about her. You took too long. Why not ask Padma instead? Parvati already said she'd be her sister's wingman, whatever that is, with Ron so Padma could have a good time with you." He didn't know why, but Lavender seemed to hesitate as she talked about Parvati and Ron. That wasn't the important part though. The twins never said anything about this to him when he asked them the first time. So why was this time different?
Thinking about it some more, he started to figure that if he was going to repeat this week, then he might as well change something, maybe he would ask Padma instead of Parvati. Anyways, Parvati would probably do a better job of keeping Ron's mind off of Hermione for a night, especially if she was "wingman'ing" for her sister. Mind made up, Harry walked through the portrait into the common room.
And before he could even do a thing, he was grabbed and pulled back out into the corridor. Parvati had a hold of his arm and seemed to be on the brink of hysterics.
"Harry, what the hell is going on? I wake up this morning and nobody remembers the ball last night, and everyone thinks it's a week ago! What did you do?"
"What makes you think I have any clue what's going on? Wait... you remember going to the ball last night?" Finally! Someone besides me is stuck in this time "loop" thingy!
"Oh no! Don't tell me that you think it's last week also!" Parvati groaned.
"No! No, no no! I remember everything the same as you! I thought I was the only one who was going through this. How do you remember and nobody else?"
"I don't know! I just figure it has something to do with you."
"Besides the fact that it does have something to do with me, why would you assume that this has something to do with me?"
"Weird things always happen around you, Harry: Survived an attack by You-Know-Who at age one, Philosopher's Stone, Chamber of Secrets, kidnapped by Sirius Black and rescued by Snape, Tri-Wizard competitor despite the age line, need I go on? I just figured, why not a time loop too?"
"Ok, you made your point, but why do you remember also?"
"Well, I was your date for the Ball, even though it sucked."
"First, I'm sorry about that. Second, what does being my date have to do with anything?"
"Maybe everything? I don't know. You don't know what's causing this, so we can't overlook any detail. Ooh! Maybe you have to find your special someone to be the date for the Yule Ball! That sounds so romantic." Parvati's voice had gotten gushy at the last part, slightly nauseating to Harry. That was a ridiculous idea... wasn't it?
"Like your sister, Padma, who has a minor crush on me?"
"How did you... Lavender! That gossiping bitch!"
"Hey! What are you so mad about? It saves me the trouble of asking you again, and maybe I'll get along with your sister better than you."
"We're twins, Harry. We're not that different."
"One of you is in Gryffindor, the other in Ravenclaw."
"That's no big deal, we're still a lot alike. The only difference is that if it was me with the crush on you, I would have done something about it already. My sister is just chicken. Now, get in that common room and ask my sister to the ball. I need to go talk to Ron."
"Ron? Why do you need to talk to him?"
"If I'm going to go to the ball with him this time, we're going to do something about that disaster he called a formal robe."
"Hey! He didn't have much choice about the robe. Be nice about it."
"I'm not completely tactless, Mr. Potter. I've already figured out what I'm going to say. Now, on to more important stuff. How the hell did you three manage to keep it a secret that Hermione was going out with Viktor Krum?" Parvati acquired a scary predatory gleam to her eyes, reminding Harry why she was one of the gossip queens of the school.
"We didn't keep it a secret! Hermione kept it a secret from all of us. I was a surprised when I saw her with him as everyone else."
"Well, I'll have to do something to keep Ron's attention on me that night. I don't intend to have a second horrid Yule Ball."
"Well, thanks for helping me out with this, anyways. I don't know why you're even willing to give the two of us another chance."
"Oh, that's easy," Parvati said. "You're kinda cute, in a tragic hero sorta way, and Ron has big feet." She blushed at the last part.
"What's so important about Ron having big feet?" Harry asked, baffled. In response, she just blushed harder, giggled and disappeared back inside the common room.
"Women," Harry muttered as he followed her inside. He saw Padma sitting at one of the tables. Curiously, everyone got up and left the area around her when he walked inside. At least I don't have to ask her in front of an audience. As he walked over to her, he saw Parvati grab Ron with the same efficacy that she had used on him a few minutes ago and drag him to one of the corners of the room.
"Er, Padma," he stammered for a start. Why does it have to be so difficult? he wondered.
"Yes, Harry?" She asked, a small blush starting to rise on her face.
It doesn't have to be difficult, he abruptly decided. "I was wondering if you'd like to be my date for the Yule Ball, if you don't already have one." Ok, points off for lack of smoothness, but at least you didn't stutter or stumble over the words.
"I'd love to, Harry. Go with you, I mean." See? She looks as nervous as you feel right now. And her blush is actually kind of cute. It seems different from Parvati's blush just a few minutes ago.
"That's great..." And Harry found himself at a loss for words again. After all, what are you going to say? "So, I hear you have a crush on me. How's that like?" Get real. "Er... I'll see you around, I guess?"
Padma, for her part, just nodded, still blushing. She bent back over her revisions, and if Harry hadn't known that she fancied him, he would have thought she was ignoring him.
A/N: Well, if you've read my first story, "Royal Flush," (Why, no, that's not a shameless plug, I promise!), you can see that the tone of this story is already different. Since I'm stuck in Iraq without my copies of the series, I've had to play a little fast and loose with the dates and times. I'm not sure exactly when Harry asked Cho or Ron asked Fleur originally, so everything is happening in this last week for these two. I'm also working on setting up later chapters with little hints and clues in the earlier chapters. This story, since I'm just having a bit of fun with the plot bunny, is unbeta'ed, so any mistakes or inconsistencies are all my fault, um... I mean that they're supposed to be there, yeah, that's it... enjoy!