Parvati Patil and Lavender Brown pranced down the stairs leading to the girl's dormitory and came to an abrupt stop. Fred and George Weasley and Lee Jordan were handing out brightly coloured flyers in the Common Room as fast as they could, and a great crowd had surrounded them.
Parvati and Lavender couldn't get close enough to see what was on the flyers and, looking at their fellow Gryffindors, couldn't tell if whatever was on the flyers was good or bad. For example, Parvati saw Neville take a flyer, read it, turn alarmingly pale, and then run away as though a horde of Snapes were chasing him.
But when Lee handed a flyer to a Seventh Year, he grinned and hurried over to his friends to show them. Lavender finally managed to snag the flyer Neville had dropped unceremoniously to the ground in his haste to flee, and together they read it. The flyer, which was a blinding shade of blue, proclaimed:
HUG A SLYTHERIN!
We call upon each and every brave and daring Gryffindor who is worth their salt to show their great courage. This day, the 15th of December, is hereby named, Hug a Slytherin Day and will forthwith be an official holiday. Upon this day, you must hug at least one (1) Slytherin, showing the true good will and joy people are supposedly demonstrating this time of year, (a week from Christmas).
Be forewarned, however, that the Slytherins will not see this as a benevolent boon and so the wisest course of action would be to produce a Shield Charm between you and your chosen Snake promptly after you break your embrace.
We, Fred Weasley, George Weasley, and Lee Jordan, shall not be held responsible for any causalities that may or may not result.
Remember to execute the embracing procedure correctly or else your parents will only have bits and pieces of you to collect.
We wish you the best of luck in your venture. Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff have been notified about this holiday and are wholeheartedly taking part. Please do not shame Gryffindor forever and ever by being cowardly while Ravenclaw, and Merlin's beard, Hufflepuff, proudly takes on this crusade.
Parvati and Lavender stared at each other, shocked. Then they began to giggle.
"What'll we do?" Lavender asked when their giggles finally subsided.
"Let's look about and see if others are taking this seriously before we make a fool of ourselves," Parvati replied, "If Slytherins are being hugged, then we'll hug one too. Right?"
"Right," said Lavender, albeit nervously.
"Don't be frightened," Parvati said reassuringly, "I doubt anyone will actually hug a Slytherin."
She was wrong. When they went down to the Great Hall for breakfast, they were met with chaos. Slytherins were being hugged, mobbed, leapt upon, and generally swallowed up right and left. In fact, it was rather difficult to manoeuvre through the crowds to the Gryffindor table what with all the Shield Charms that were cast.
"We're going to have to do it Parvati," Lavender squeaked as they spotted the fiftieth Slytherin being accosted by two first year Hufflepuffs who were cackling in a rather terrifying way. She and Parvati darted into a hallway.
"Right, we need a plan," Parvati said decisively, "If we see a Slytherin we recognize, we'll squeal their name. It'll stun them for a second, and then we'll pounce."
"And hug them really tightly," Lavender said, eyes bright, "Holding their arms to their side so they can't get their wands—"
"And," Parvati grinned, vibrating with excitement, "Boys will be better to hug 'cause they'll be more shocked by us."
"Plus," Lavender interjected, "They'll be more reluctant to curse girls—"
"Unless they're Muggleborns," Parvati corrected, "The least mean Slytherin would curse a baby Muggleborn."
"True," Lavender said impatiently, "But, generally, boy Slytherins are less risky to hug since we're girls—"
"Because they'll get all flustered. They're boys after all."
Lavender's grin turned positively evil. "The older Slytherins will require a kiss. On the cheek I mean. They wouldn't know what to do with themselves."
Parvati laughed, "Wicked!"
"Shh, someone's coming," Lavender whispered.
Heavy footsteps announced the arrival of none other than Millicent Bulstrode.
"A girl," Parvati groaned, and prepared to step out.
But a loud shriek of, "Milly!" interrupted her. Lavender and Parvati watched, stunned, as Marietta Edgecomb raced toward the large Slytherin, and gave her a quick but strong hug. As soon as she released her, Marietta shouted, "Protego!"
Millicent's hex bounced off the invisible wall. She cursed and tried to run at the smaller girl but was blocked. Swearing foully, Millicent pocketed her wand and stormed off in the opposite direction.
There was silence. Then Lavender whispered, "That was scary. I hope mine isn't like that. Oh! I hear someone coming!"
Sure enough, Draco Malfoy rounded the corner. Lavender gave Parvati a poke, "Go! And, ah, this one might require a kiss!"
She was right, because Malfoy looked thunderous for whatever reason. It was a bit unnerving. Summoning all her courage, Parvati took a deep breath. "DRACO!" she said in her highest pitched squeal.
Draco didn't have time to look more than confused before Parvati swooped down on him and hugged him as hard as she could. It was then Parvati realized that she had forgotten to draw her wand. I'm dead, she thought despondently, Unless Lavender…
But Malfoy merely drew away and stared at her, gobsmacked. "What the bloody hell was that for?" he asked, sounding genuinely curious. Parvati didn't explain, only took out her wand, grabbed him by the front of his robes and kissed him once on the forehead and twice on each cheek.
Then she shrieked, "Protego!" raced back to her hiding place where Lavender waited, snatched her friend's hand, and continued running. They just barely made it into the Charms classroom.
After Charms, Lavender asked, "Do you want to go to our dormitory now?"
"No!" Parvati cried, "You haven't hugged a Slytherin yet! I hugged the Slytherin King, and kissed him!"
"Right," Lavender said apprehensively, "But the meanest Slytherin of all didn't even raise a pinkie finger to hurt you, never mind his wand."
"Because I took him by surprise," Parvati replied, "If I'd said 'Oh, hello Malfoy, I'm going to hug you and kiss you, is that alright?' he'd have hexed me!"
Lavender opened her mouth to retort but before she could, Parvati dragged her behind a suit of armour. A Slytherin approached and the girls recognized with glee that it was Blaise Zabini.
"It's your turn Lav," Parvati whispered, "Don't forget to draw your wand."
Lavender did so and leapt in front of Zabini. "Blaise!" she squealed and hugged him. Then she kissed his cheek, gasped out the incantation for the Shield Charm, and ran down the hallway. Parvati followed.
Behind them, Zabini bellowed, "How DARE you—" and then there was the sound of flesh on stone as he collided with the shield and fell on his rump. As Zabini's swearing grew fainter, Lavender giggled.
"My mum would never allow me back at Hogwarts if she knew all the swear words I'm learning from the Slytherins."
Parvati laughed and breathlessly gave the password to the Fat Lady. Before they had even set foot inside the common room, they could hear Hermione yelling at Fred and George.
"How dare you be so reckless! Neville was really worried about disgracing Gryffindor and tried to hug a Slytherin seventh year!"
"Oh no!" Lavender exclaimed, "Is he alright?"
"He's out cold in the hospital wing," Ginny said coolly from her chair. She was watching the confrontation avidly, her wand twitching in a rather threatening manner at her twin brothers.
"And a right sight he is," Hermione said hotly, "He's covered in bruises and blood. He even has a few fractures! Madame Pomfrey says he'll be alright in a couple of days, but still!"
"Ah, Hermione dear—," Fred (or was it George?) said smoothly.
"We were only trying—" said George, (or maybe Fred?)
"To promote—"
"Inter-House Unity!" they chorused.
Lavender and Parvati determined that while it was funny to see Hermione speechless, they wanted to go to their room and soak in the day. So they did.
"Well, what do you make of everything?" Lavender asked Parvati as they flopped onto their respective beds.
"It wasn't fun exactly," Parvati answered thoughtfully, "The day, I mean. But there is a certain thrill to stalking Slytherins."
"You know what?" said Lavender, "I agree. But it's a thrill that should come only once a year. For Neville's sake at least."