Act One

The day had finally arrived. After months of waiting, it was once again August First. King's Cross was crowded as ever, with Muggles and Magical folk alike.

Following a quick exchange of hugs and well-wishes, Harry, Ron, and Hermione bid fare well to the Weasleys and boarded the Hogwarts Express. A few first years sped past them, and after straightening themselves, the Golden Trio began to look for a compartment to sit in.

"Fancy the fact that all the firsties got seats before us," Ron said under his breath.

"Well, Ron, if you're not fast enough to beat them to it, you really don't deserve a better seat, now do you?" Hermione asked, annoyed.

"Pipe down, you two. Look, this one's mostly empty, so –" Harry began.

"That's my sister's stuff," Ron said, glancing at the trunk and carry-on already in the compartment. "Let's find someplace else." He turned to go.

Hermione grabbed his arm. "I, for one, like your sister, and for that matter, so does Harry." At this Harry deepened to a shade of red rivaling the famous Weasley hair. "You can go somewhere else if you want to, but we're not leaving."

Just then, Ginny returned. "Oh, hullo. Are you all sitting here, then? Great!"

"We were just thinking that." Hermione shot Ron a death glare.

Ron sighed and pulled his trunk inside the compartment. After placing it beside Ginny's on the luggage rack, he helped Hermione with hers.

"Come on, mate," he then said to Harry, "let's go for a walk."

As they walked between train cars, Ron noticed that Harry wasn't really paying attention to him.

"Harry? Harry, hullo?" Ron said, waving his palm in front of Harry's eyes. "What's with you?"

"Oh, nothing," Harry sighed.

"Tell me."

"You wouldn't like it."

"Tell me!"

"I… I don't know how to ask you this, but… Isn't Ginny beautiful?" Harry asked a starry look in his eyes.

"Ew! She's still my sister, no matter – Wait, do you like her?"

Harry blushed again and continued shuffling on, leaving Ron standing gaping at his retreating back.

Snapping out of La-la land, Ron ran to catch up with Harry and clapped his hand upon his best friend's shoulder. "You're my best mate and all – you know that – b –and even though I think Ginny's the most annoying girl ever – but you know I'll hurt you if anything happens to her, right?"

"Yeah, I know," Harry eyed the semi-annoyed look on Ron's face. "Believe me, I know."

"Harry? Ron? 'zat you?"

Harry and Ron turned to see their friend Seanmus Finnigan emerging from a train compartment to their left.

"Hullo, Seanmus."

"Great, we need two more! We're playing wizard's poker. You in?"

Harry looked at Ron, who shrugged. "Sure."

Following Seanmus into the compartment, Harry took a seat beside Neville, who was looking anxiously at Dean Thomas, who was snoring rather loudly.

"Hullo, Neville. How were your hols?" Ron asked, sitting next to Seanmus.

"F-Fine, thanks."

"Okay, um… Me 'n Harry verses Ron 'n Neville," Seanmus said.

"No way! Me and Harry or no game," Ron replied.

"Oh, a'ight."

And so the game began. After a long, grueling match which took most of the trip, Neville got dealt a horrible hand and lost the game for himself and Seanmus.

"Ugh! Neville! What 'ere you thinkin'?" Seanmus yelled loudly enough to wake Dean.

"Wazzat?" Dean mumbled.

"We're almost at Hogwarts."

"I'll tell you what you owe us later," Harry said to Seanmus before following Ron out the door.

"Us, Harry? No, he owes you. You were brilliant. I didn't do anything," Ron said.

"If you say so…"

Immediately following the Sorting and the feast, Dumbledore gave his usual speech to the students – but meant especially for the first years. Harry tuned most of it out because if was all so familiar, but when Dumbledore began talking about arranging more social activities for the students in the coming year, Harry's ears perked up.

"… Included in these events will be such things as a costume party for Halloween, a Christmas ball, a New Year's Eve carnival and so on and so forth. I wish that you all attend and enjoy these coming festivities. Now, if you'll all join me in the Hogwarts Song, we'll return to our long vacant dormitories and settle in."

Once in Gryffindor common room, Harry caught up with Seanmus.

"Seanmus, I've figured out what you owe me," Harry said, catching Ron's eye.

"What's that?" Seanmus asked, somewhat bewildered.

"Well, if you'll step into my office, we'll discus it."

"What are you bloody talking about?"

Ron took one of Seanmus's arms and Harry took the other. "Let's go for a walk, my friend."

On their walk amongst the halls, Harry explained his plan to his friends.

"Okay, so I may be 'the boy who lived' but I am very shy around girls. You know that, right?"

"So?" Ron and Seanmus said simultaneously.

"So I figure… Seanmus isn't shy around girls… and he owes me… So he can help me out a bit…"

"How?"

"Well there's this thing called a Polyjuice potion, and –"

"No, no and NO!" Seanmus exclaimed. "I will absolutely NOT impersonate you."

"You do owe him, Finnigan," Ron said, "But what do you have in mind, Harry?"

"The costume party. We'll be in costume, but doubly. Seanmus will go as me being someone and I will go as Seanmus being someone. It will take the focus off of our impersonations being perfect since we're not supposed to act like ourselves."

Seanmus thought for a moment. "Well that sounds easy enough… Okay, I'll do it. Who's the girl?"

Harry looked at Ron. "Ginny."

Ron's ears turned red. "Harry –" he whined.

"Ron –" Harry whined back.

"I said I'd do it, let's go plot!" Seanmus said, leading the way back to Gryffindor Tower.

Little did they know, someone had been listening…

Draco Malfoy was happy. Oh so happy. This year was going to be the best year yet. The term wasn't even a day old and he already had a plan to mess with the mind of his arch enemy, the oh-so-special Muggle and Mudblood lover, Harry Potter.

Entering the Slytherin Common room, he spotted his favorite mindless goons.

"Crabe, Goyle, get over hear now!" he yelled, snapping his fingers.

"What is it, Draco?"

Malfoy smirked. "Potter has so many little victories on his battle chart… But I'm out to win the war."

"What?" Goyle asked.

"Listen, you bumbling idiot! I have information that will lead me to a plan that will rip Potter's happiness out from beneath his fingertips. Now are you in or should I find someone else who would be of more help?"

"No, we'll help, we promise!"

"Just tell us what we need to do!"

"Okay, so the story is thus: Potter is infatuated with the daughter of that redheaded Muggle lover."

"Who?"

"Weasley, Arthur Weasley, you buffoon!"

"Oh, right."

"As I was saying, Potter fancies her. I overheard that bloody prat talking to the redheaded twit and the stupid Irishman from Gryffindor."

"Wait he told Weasley that he liked –"

"No the redheaded twit is her brother, the one with the rat who's always tagging along after Potter like a two year old afraid to leave his mummy."

"Oh."

"Like I was saying, I dislike Potter, so thus dislike anything that would make him happy. So, now we must devise a plan – or rather, I'll come up with what you two are going to do, and you'll do it – to make sure he's not happy. Come, let's discus…"