Battle Royale
Disclaimer: Harry Potter and all associated characters, places, and terms are property of J.K. Rowling.
Chapter 3: Round Two: Tracey Davis vs. All
Tracey Davis was lying on her bed in the Slytherin dorm looking over her list of contenders and thinking to herself. She ran a finger over Padma's crossed out name. It had been a little over a month since the competition started and she had yet to make a move on Potter.
When Daphne first suggested the idea of the contest to her, Tracey thought her friend was mad. What chance did two Slytherins have against the Weasley girl? Everyone knew that she would end up with Potter. Why even bother to fight a losing battle? That was until Daphne actually managed to get close to Potter and he still did not get back together with Weasley. Perhaps she had a shot at it. But did she really care for Potter? No, she decided. Potter was not as interesting to her as he was to Daphne. Besides, dating Potter meant that she'd have a lot of attention directed at her. Tracey had spent so much time at Hogwarts keeping a low profile to avoid being drawn in with the aspiring Death Eaters that she could not see herself in the spotlight and liking it.
Still, Tracey enjoyed upsetting things. That was her sole reason for remaining in the contest at all. And what better way to wreck havoc on the competition than to make sure that it ended with everyone losing. But first, she would have to knock out the lead contender for Potter, that being the Weasley girl.
Weasley...she would be the hardest to knock out of the competition because she had dated Potter and, if her outburst at the meeting was any indication, Weasley wanted to get back with him. There was no other girl in the school who could give Weasley a run for her money if she wanted to date Potter, none except for Granger.
There was just one little problem at the moment - Granger was with Weasel. But that could be remedied, Tracey thought with an evil grin. Then if Granger could be convinced to go after Potter, even Weasley would not stand a chance.
Later that day, Tracey looked for an opportunity to talk to Granger by herself. She had to know what Granger thought of Potter. Otherwise, her plan would not work. Fortunately, that chance came in her potions class in the afternoon.
When class started, Slughorn told them to pair up with someone. Tracey had strategically placed herself near Granger when she arrived so that she would almost be certain to work with her. It was time to mix things up.
"Mind if I work with you today Hermione?" Tracey asked. Although she'd always known of Hermione by her last name, it would not do to be uncivil. At least until she got what she wanted.
Hermione looked surprised that a Slytherin would want to work with her but sat next to her anyway. The bushy-haired Head Girl took out her potions book and set it on the table while Tracey grabbed a cauldron from the shelf.
"All right everyone," Slughorn called out. "Today we are going to brew a confusing and befuddlement draught. The ingredients you will need are on the board. The instructions are in your book. You have until the end of the class to finish."
They opened their books to the proper page and Hermione went to retrieve the ingredients from the front of the class.
"So how are you feeling Hermione?" Tracey asked when Hermione returned with their ingredients.
Hermione gave her a curious look but answered anyway. "I am feeling fine, thank you."
"I mean, are you happy with everything?"
"Yes," Hermione replied, not bothering to look up from her book. "Why do you ask?"
"Because I think that for someone at the top of our year, you're a complete moron," Tracey stated flatly.
Hermione's head shot up in surprise but the shock wore off quickly and Tracey found herself on the receiving end of one of Hermione's glares. "I think that if you wanted to insult me, you could do so without asking me to be your potions partner."
Tracey ignored Hermione's statement and went on. "I do envy you Hermione. I mean you have the perfect boyfriend in front of you that all the girls would be dying to have."
Hermione's facial expression softened a little. "I do think Ron is a good boyfriend and I'm lucky to have him."
Tracey had to laugh at Hermione's statement. "I don't mean Weasel. I think you could do better than him. I'm talking about Potter."
Hermione was speechless. "Harry? But he doesn't think of me that way. In fact, Ron told me that he only thought of me as a sister."
"From that statement, I take it you've considered dating him yourself?" Tracey asked with a smirk. "As for Potter thinking of you only as a sister, did you ask him yourself?"
Hermione scoffed. "I like Ron just fine, thank you."
"And the truth comes out," Tracey said sarcastically. "So because you couldn't get Potter, you settled for second best. Tell me Hermione, what do you see in Weasel?"
"I happen to think Ron is funny, loyal, and intelligent when he wants to be," Hermione insisted. "And we understand each other perfectly. Thank you."
Tracey leaned closer to Hermione, "So then tell me, why do you two argue a lot? That does not seem to me like understanding. Now Potter on the other hand…you two don't argue as much do you?"
Hermione gave Tracey a scrutinizing look. "Just what do you think you're trying to pull here? Why are you suddenly so interested in Harry?"
"Well, for one Potter hasn't gotten back with the Weasley girl. There has to be a reason for that right? You're smart, I'm sure you can figure why Potter is still single. As for why I'm so interested in Potter, what girl wouldn't be since he's still single?"
"Stop calling him Potter already," Hermione said forcefully.
Tracey smirked at Hermione. "I don't hear you defending your boyfriend when I call him Weasel. Perhaps you haven't given up on Potter."
Hermione became flustered. "For your information, it wouldn't be right for me to date Harry. He has Ginny and it's only a matter of time before they get back together. They just need to warm up to each other again."
Tracey lowered her voice to a whisper. "Well then, let me fill you in on a little secret Granger. I think that if you decided to go for Potter, dear Weasley would not stand a chance. And if Potter had to date someone, I doubt that he'd mind dating you. He's right in front of you. Now all you have to do is reach out and grab him for yourself."
For the first time that anyone could remember, Hermione failed her potions assignment that day and Tracey left the potions classroom laughing all the way back to her dorm.
When she got back to the Slytherin common room, Tracey was intercepted by her friend Daphne.
"What did you tell Hermione?" Daphne demanded.
Tracey merely sat in a chair and stared up at her friend. "What are you talking about?"
"You," Daphne said, pointing a finger at her friend, "were Hermione's potions partner in class and I saw you talking to her. Hermione also never fails any school assignment. So what did you tell her?"
"Oh I just filled in her in on the contest," Tracey said nonchalantly.
Daphne glared at her friend. "We took an oath, I know for a fact that you cannot talk about our little competition to anyone other than ourselves."
Tracey decided that she would play her friend a little. "True, but there are ways around it. I just happened to find one."
Apparently Daphne was unfazed by Tracey's statement. "Quit trying to have me on and just tell me what you told Hermione."
Tracey had to grin at that statement. Daphne knew her too well. "I told her to go for Potter."
"And?"
"She refused," Tracey said flatly. "She's far too stubborn and noble to dump Weasel but I think she can be convinced to with the proper motivation."
"You can't do that!" Daphne protested. "If Hermione goes for Harry, none of us will stand a chance."
"That is the point," Tracey replied with a smirk. "You can try to stop me if you want but in all honesty, I don't think you stand a chance against Weasley."
"So what do you suggest?" Daphne asked, folding her arms across her chest and frowning at her friend.
"I'll leave that to your judgment," Tracey answered vaguely as she stood up from the chair and continued up to her room.
The next day, Tracey went to the library to come up with a plan to break up Granger and Weasel. It would not do for her to plan in her dorm. Daphne would find her and interrogate her again, or intervene and ruin her fun. Her conversation with Granger yesterday was merely a teaser. What she was really after was information that she could use to carry out her plan to break them up.
Granger had described Weasel as funny, loyal, understanding, and intelligent. Tracey had to laugh at the last one. Weasel was a hothead and that meant that intelligence went out the door. Understanding? Hardly. One only had to look at their arguments for evidence of that. Loyal? Maybe. Tracey did not know enough to judge if Weasel was loyal to Granger or how far he'd go for her. But everyone had their price.
Tracey thought for a bit. Weasel was always playing second fiddle to Potter. Even after the war, Potter got a lot of marriage proposals but Weasel got nothing. So if she somehow got another girl to pay attention to Weasel other than Granger, perhaps Granger would break up with him out of anger. That idea brought a smile to her face. It was just a matter of coming up with a girl who had the slightest interest in Weasel and convince her to go for him.
An hour later, Tracey still could not think of any girl who had shown interest in Weasel other than Lavender Brown and Luna Lovegood. There was just one problem…both of them were in the same competition she was. That would not do.
Tracey sighed in frustration and buried her face in her hands. There had to be a better way to go about this than try to set Weasel up with some other girl. Then the idea hit her like a bludger to the face. If she could not break them up by setting Weasel up with another girl, maybe she could undermine their relationship by making Weasel think that Potter was after Granger. After all, Weasel was a hothead and he just might get jealous and do something stupid if he thought that Potter was encroaching on his territory. Feeling much better, Tracey went off to look for a chance to put her new plan into action.
Just before dinner that evening, Tracey hid herself in one of the corridors leading to the Great Hall and waited for the Golden Trio to show up. Dinner was one of the few times that Potter made himself visible – that is other than the trips to Hogsmeade. The rest of the time, it was just Weasel and Granger. No one seemed to know where Potter went or what he did from breakfast all the way through dinner. Maybe it was because he felt lonely with his two best friends dating each other.
That thought made Tracey feel a little sorry for Potter. She knew what it was like to be lonely. Her parents never paid much attention to her and, unlike Daphne, she did not have a sibling to play with. But she was at Hogwarts and she had found a good friend in Daphne, even if they were currently competing against each other.
At that moment, Neville, Harry, Hermione, Ron, Lavender, and Ginny came into view. They were heading in her direction so Tracey drew her wand and waited for them to pass her hiding spot. When they passed, Tracey peeked out of her hiding spot and sent a tripping hex at Hermione. The idea was to send Granger tumbling into Potter. Hopefully the two would enjoy the position they were in and Weasel would get jealous.
Unfortunately for Tracey, Hannah Abbott chose that moment to walk into her line of fire and so it was she who was hit by the tripping hex. Hannah was immediately sent sprawling on top of Neville.
Cursing to herself, Tracey decided that she would have to try another time. She could see Neville apologizing profusely to Hannah while she was still on top of him. Ginny and Harry helped Hannah off of Neville who was beet red from embarrassment.
With a short "thank you" and a "you're very nice" to Harry, Hannah gathered her things and scurried off to the Great Hall. Neville on the other hand was looking wistfully after Hannah's retreating figure.
Tracey had to do a double-take at that one. Longbottom and Abbott? That would be interesting, she thought. Too bad that Abbott was also after Potter.
After the group went into the Great Hall for dinner, Tracey left her hiding spot and went to get some dinner for herself. Grabbing a seat next to Daphne, she started piling some food on her plate when she noticed that her friend was looking rather pensive.
"Something wrong?" Tracey asked. "You aren't eating."
Daphne turned and gave her friend a small smile. "Nothing, just thinking."
"About our competition?"
"No, about what comes after all this," Daphne replied, motioning around her with her hand. "What will you do after we graduate?"
Tracey had not thought of what comes after but one thing was for sure, she did not want to be alone. That much she expressed to her friend.
"I don't think you'll have to worry about that one," Daphne told her. "I'm sure you'll find a good wizard to take care of you."
"Even if that wizard is Potter?" Tracey teased. "I think I could learn to like that."
"Harry is going to be mine," Daphne said, the possessiveness in her voice was evident. "Once I sink my claws into him, I'm not letting him go."
Both girls burst out laughing. Tracey knew that Daphne was seriously considering dating Potter and the progress she had made so far was impressive. If her friend won somehow, Tracey would be happy for her friend.
"You really like Potter, don't you?" Tracey asked.
For the first time that Tracey could recall, Daphne had a slight blush on her face. "I never thought I'd find myself this attracted to him but after he went out of his way to try to protect Astoria from Malfoy and after spending time with him…I don't know how to describe the feeling."
"Hey Daphne," Tracey said, changing the subject. "Where do you suppose Potter, I mean Harry, goes in between breakfast and dinner? Weasel shows himself during lunch and even later in the afternoon but no one knows where Harry is."
Daphne looked thoughtful but Tracey could see that her friend had gone into her scheming mode and she knew that whatever plan she had, it would probably be good.
"Well, I know that he has auror training in the morning since Ron goes with him," Daphne said. "But after lunch, Professor Boneshard is teaching Defence classes. I can't imagine that Harry would still be training at that time since Ron comes back for lunch."
"So how does that help us?"
"Harry mentioned that Professor Boneshard had them run laps around the Quidditch pitch," Daphne informed her. "That must be where they have their training sessions. So that's where we'll go once lunch begins. Harry won't suspect that anyone will be watching him at that time. We can do it tomorrow."
The next day, Daphne and Tracey skipped lunch and headed out to the Quidditch pitch instead. Other than dodging Professor Boneshard and Ron who were on the way in, they arrived without incident and hid themselves in the stands. For the two Slytherin students, it was the first time either of them had been there when no one else was around.
Tracey spotted Harry on the ground in the middle of the Quidditch pitch eating his lunch. An old house elf was also present laying out what appeared to be a plate of sandwiches on the ground. Then, with a bow, the house elf disappeared.
"I'm surprised he doesn't just go inside to eat lunch," Tracey heard Daphne comment. "I mean Ron and Hermione are in there."
"I think that's the point," Tracey said. "I think he doesn't want to intrude on his friends' intimacy."
"But I know for a fact that Hermione doesn't mind if Harry is there," Daphne replied. "In fact, at one of the trips to Hogsmeade, Hermione was fairly insistent that Harry be there even though she was going on a date with Ron."
That bit of information was very useful to Tracey. Hermione would rather be with Harry than Ron if she wanted him to be there even though she was going on a date. Maybe it wouldn't take much prodding for Hermione to go after Harry, Tracey thought.
"If I knew he was going to be eating lunch, I would have gotten something to eat before we came here."
Tracey burst out laughing at her friend. "So the great one miscalculates. Now we're going to die of hunger."
"Thanks…no need to be so overdramatic" Daphne deadpanned.
When Harry had finished his lunch, Tracey saw the old house elf appear again and remove all of the dishes before disappearing again. She saw Harry reach next to him for something which she presumed to be his wand before he stood up.
Suddenly, ten loud cracks were heard and Tracey saw ten red bolts leave Harry's wand in an arc in front of him. Visually tracking each of the bolts, Tracey noticed for the first time that he was not alone on the pitch.
In front of him were ten skeletal figures, each holding a sword and a tower shield. The bolts made contact with each target's shield, which promptly exploded into a multitude of splinters.
She saw the ten targets charge at Harry who rapidly fired ten more shots at each target. Tracey found herself being very impressed at the display for each of the shots was aimed at the chest and there were no misses. Like the shields, the figures exploded one after another and collapsed to the ground.
Tracey heard Daphne let out a small gasp next to her and she turned to see that her friend was pointing at something on the pitch.
Sure enough, there were more skeletal figures further down the pitch. This time, each had a bow and a quiver of arrows. The archers had their bows drawn back to shoot at Harry.
Shortly thereafter, the archers let loose their arrows. Turning her attention back to Harry, she saw that he had broken into a run, closing his distance on the new targets.
It was a good idea because at that range, the archers had to shoot high in order to hit him. Therefore, by the time the arrows got to his previous location, he would not be there.
Five more shots later, half of the archers were down and the remaining half had taken a second shot. This time, rather than dodge the arrows, Harry conjured a shield to deflect the arrows. The arrows hit the shield and fell harmlessly to the ground, after which the remaining archers found themselves on the receiving end of another wave of bolts coming from Harry's wand.
Tracey scanned the pitch for more targets but did not see any.
"Look, the skeletons are repairing themselves," Daphne said, focusing Tracey's attention back to where the skeletons had been previously. "I just hope that Harry doesn't get hurt."
"After that show, I don't think they'll be able to touch him," Tracey commented.
Once the skeletons got up again, each one picked up its weapon and a brand new shield laying around the edges of the pitch. This time she saw that the skeletons arrayed themselves in a tight formation and locked their shields together with their swords sticking out in between the small gaps. The shields were different in that they were round and had a silver outer coating which reflected the mid-day sunlight. Tracey had to squint because the glare was intense.
The formation advanced toward Harry who had fired off one test shot. Unlike previously, the bolt did not destroy the shield it hit. Instead, it was reflected back at Harry who put up a shield of his own to absorb the blow.
Seeing that his spells would not work as long as the shields were up, he tried running around the formation to the exposed flanks, firing a few more shots as he ran. However, the skeletons were able to rotate their formation to keep their shields facing Harry. When the back of the formation was facing the two Slytherin girls, Tracey noticed that a few skeletons at the back of the formation had their bows drawn back, ready to fire.
"Those archers behind the shields can't be good," Daphne said, drawing her own wand. "I think we should go down there and help him."
Tracey nodded and drew her own wand. The two girls ran as fast as they could down the stairs to the pitch.
Sure enough, the formation parted just enough for the archers to open fire on Harry. Harry dropped to the ground and returned fire just as the arrows sailed over his head. The spell took out one of the archers just before the formation closed again.
By that time, Tracey and Daphne were on the ground and they found themselves on the exposed left flank of the formation. Grinning at each other, the two girls also opened fire with reducto curses, hitting two of the skeletons in the front of the formation. The two skeletons exploded and the shields they had been holding fell to the ground.
Harry looked surprised at the appearance of the two girls but kept running just in time to avoid several more arrows that had been fired through the recently parted shields. The skeletons were apparently intelligent because once Tracey and Daphne took out two of them, the shield formation changed to adapt to the new attackers. However, this also meant that the formation had one weakness - one that Daphne quickly picked up on.
"Fire at their legs," she heard Daphne tell her. "The shields aren't covering their legs now."
Firing low, Tracey sent a reducto curse into the right leg of one of the skeletons facing her. The skeleton collapsed, leaving the formation open for a second reducto curse fired by Daphne. The skeleton behind its fallen comrade exploded.
"Five down, fifteen more to go," Daphne said with a grin. "This is pretty fun."
Tracey had to agree that this was fun but she realized that they would have to keep moving because the archers were now focusing on them.
Arrows were once again let loose and the two girls sprinted in opposite directions to avoid the incoming fire. Tracey noticed that Harry had not moved to try to join them. Instead, he was trying to move to the opposite side of the formation in order to separate the remaining opponents.
It was a tactic that seemed to work because now the archers had dropped their bows and picked up the shields of their fallen comrades. They moved to cover the gaps in the shield walls but not before Harry had dropped two more of them. However, they were now facing two shield walls advancing in opposite directions.
"We can't let them get close to us," Tracey told her friend. "Keep running that way. They can only keep the wall facing one direction. With any luck, one of us will be able to take down more of them."
After a few minutes of running, Tracey found herself out of breath. Physical activity was not something emphasized at Hogwarts and so many of the students, she realized, would probably lose against this formation within a short period of time.
Looking back at the formation, Tracey saw that it was now split into three groups. Three opponents were going towards Daphne, three were advancing at her, and the remaining seven were on Harry. The skeletons had now shifted so that they were walking single file. The first skeleton was crouched low with his shield covering him and the legs of his comrade behind him. The third skeleton in the two groups advancing on Daphne and Tracey had picked up a bow and started firing at them.
Frustrated at the turn of events, Tracey fired a shot at the group in front of her only to have it reflected back at her. She put up a shield to block the reflected spell and stared tiredly at the group that was coming toward her. She was already exhausted from the running and the skeletons were obviously not going to give up.
In her peripheral, Tracey saw three flashes of light. Looking in that direction, she saw Daphne's entire group of opponents go down. It was only then that Tracey realized what she should have done from the start. The three of them had spread the formation apart enough so that even though they would not be able to take out the group in front of them, they could still fire on the other two groups.
Daphne seemed to realize this as well because she fired three reducto curses which took out Tracey's group. Then the two of them concentrated their fire on Harry's group until there were no more opponents.
When the last opponent had gone down, the two girls walked over to Harry's location. He had sat himself down on the pitch in order to catch his breath.
"Thanks for your help," Harry said when they arrived. "I've never been able to beat this before - at least not without a broom."
Daphne grinned at the boy and surprised him by giving him a hug. "You're welcome. We were concerned that you might be in trouble but I'm glad that you're ok."
Harry looked a little uncomfortable at the physical affection but he quickly returned back to normal when Daphne introduced Tracey to Harry.
"We've had classes together," Harry said, giving Tracey a friendly smile. "You weren't part of Malfoy's group either."
"No, I wasn't," Tracey replied. "He was boring. All he ever talked about was how great he was. Never did like the ferret for that."
Harry let out a laugh. "It's refreshing to see that not all Slytherins are gits."
Daphne looked offended. "Well excuse me if not everyone can be as noble as you," she huffed, crossing her arms over her chest. "Next time I think you need help, I'll just remain in the sidelines and watch you get your sorry arse handed to you."
Harry threw up his arms in surrender as Tracey laughed at her friend's actions. "Sorry, I'm not used to Slytherins being civil toward me. Malfoy and all."
"Leave it to Malfoy to ruin my perfectly good image," Daphne said sarcastically.
"So Harry," Tracey began. "Why do you stay out here by yourself? I mean even Ron goes back to the castle for lunch and I don't see him out here."
Harry looked somber. "I can't get better if I don't practice. After the war, I told myself that I didn't want to see anyone else to get hurt. The best way I think I can do that is to keep improving. Professor Boneshard is a very good teacher."
"Where did you learn how to animate objects?" Daphne asked, motioning toward the destroyed skeletons.
"I didn't. That's Professor Boneshard's work," Harry explained. "They've been set up so that as long as I want to practice, they'll keep repairing themselves. That way he doesn't have to repair them himself when he's teaching class and I can stay out here as long as I want."
"He should talk to Professor Flitwick," Daphne commented. "That's gotta be very complicated."
Tracey's stomach let out a growl and the Slytherin girl blushed in embarrassment. "Sorry, we haven't eaten lunch. Are you going to go at it again?"
Harry shook his head. "I think I've had enough for today. Thanks for your help again."
"Would you like to join us for lunch then?" Daphne asked with a hopeful expression on her face.
"I don't mind," Harry replied. "In fact, I'll have Kreacher bring some food for you."
"Who's Kreacher?" Tracey asked.
"He's my house elf. I inherited him from my godfather," Harry explained before summoning Kreacher.
The old house elf that Tracey had seen earlier appeared in front of them and Harry asked the two girls what they would like to eat. After taking their orders, the house elf disappeared.
He reappeared a short moment later with their food and the three of them enjoyed friendly conversation for the rest of the afternoon as they ate.
Around dinnertime, Harry thought that they should head back to the castle. "Hermione insisted that I join her for dinner everyday," Harry had explained.
That comment made Tracey think again that it would not take much to get Hermione to go for Harry.
When they arrived back at the main entrance, they ran into Ron, Hermione, Ginny and Luna. Harry's friends looked very surprised to see him in the company of the two Slytherin girls but he walked up to them as if it was not a problem.
Other than Hermione, Tracey could tell that the other three were less than pleased that Harry had been hanging out with them. Ginny and Luna probably because they wanted Harry for themselves, and Ron merely because they were Slytherins. Fingering the parchment with the list of contestants in her pocket, a crazy idea came to Tracey's mind. Hermione thought that Ginny would be the one to get Harry. For that reason, Hermione would not do anything because she did not want to betray Ginny. However, if Hermione thought that other girls had a shot at him too, just maybe Hermione would forget about Ginny make a move herself.
Taking a deep breath, Tracey turned to her friend. "Daphne, are you sure about going after Harry?"
Daphne gave her a questioning look.
"Are you certain that Harry is what you want?" Tracey repeated, a bit more forcefully.
Daphne looked longingly at Harry before replying, "Harry is the kind of guy that I would be happy with so yes, I'm sure."
"Then don't forget about me if you get him," Tracey said.
With that, she pulled her list from her pocket and dropped it on the floor behind her. Before Daphne realized what was going on, Tracey walked up to Harry while he was still talking, or rather arguing with his friends.
"I don't think you should be trusting those Slytherins," Ron was saying. "They'll be nothing but trouble for you."
"If you'd take the time to get to know them, they're not so bad," Harry said defensively.
"I have to agree with Ron," Ginny added. "You should be spending more time with us instead and not with those manipulative - ."
"Harry!" Tracey called as she approached the group.
Harry and his friends stopped talking and turned their attentions to her. This was it, Tracey thought.
"I just wanted to thank you for the lunch date," Tracey told him with a smile. "I don't suppose I could interest you in a second date on our next trip to Hogsmeade?"
The reaction of Harry and his friends was absolutely priceless because all of them could only stare at her with their mouths wide open.
Ginny was the first to regain her senses. "Date! Harry, you better explain yourself," Ginny ordered.
"No response?" Tracey said innocently. "Maybe this will help you."
Wrapping her arms around Harry's neck, Tracey kissed him. Hard.
Although Tracey knew that Harry was not responding to her kiss, he was not pushing her away either. That gave her the excuse to continue the kiss for as long as possible, or at least until she needed air.
When she finally let go of him, she was pleased that Harry looked dazed. His friends, on the other hand, did not look happy at all.
"So how about that date?" Tracey asked again with a smile.
"Sorry Tracey," Harry replied. "But I don't think I'll be able to take you up on that date."
"Aww," Tracey pouted. "I guess you didn't like that kiss."
"It's not that I didn't like it," Harry said, trying to pick his words carefully. "I mean what guy wouldn't like being kissed by a cute girl? It's just that I'm not interested. Sorry."
"It's ok, I understand," Tracey said. And she truly did. She knew that Harry was not interested in her but she hoped that her actions that evening would result in a favorable outcome for her friend. She had gone into the contest wanting to wreck havoc but now she felt that her friend deserved to be happy. Either way, she needed Hermione to go after Harry in order to keep Ginny occupied or eliminate the Weasley girl altogether. Daphne probably would not stand a chance either, but there was always the small possibility that while Hermione and Ginny were going after each other, Daphne would find a way to get the guy she wanted.
When Tracey turned around, she saw that her list was nothing but a pile of ashes at Daphne's feet. Although her friend would know that she had eliminated herself from the competition, she knew she would have to explain her actions to Daphne later. But that was something Tracey could live with.
A/N: I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter. As usual, feedback would be appreciated. Thanks.
