A/N: "No more German-ness!" says Kindali. "Fine, fine…" agrees Moona.
Oh, hello! Anyway, this is another chapter. Seven pages in Microsoft Word. Quite long, if you ask me, but it's a good one. If you actually read it. Please read it. I mean, unless you haven't read the other ones… then you should read those first. Then this. Oh bugger, I'm rambling.
Anyway, this is a chapter. The fact that it says "(Middle Name!)" near the beginning is not a mistake. Well, we were planning to make up a name for Malfoy… but we thought it was funnier if we just left it this way. Well, hope you enjoy… whoever you are…
At about 2 PM, Kindali woke up to loud yelling that was coming up from the common room. She only could make out a few words, such as Slytherin, ferret and a few obscenities. That was enough for her to get up and go see what was going on.
After slipping on a bathrobe over her PJ's, she slowly trudged down the winding staircase. It seemed the whole school was in the common room, that was how much noise there was. Standing in the middle of a swarm of angry Ravenclaws was Draco Malfoy, who was being fiercely interrogated on how he managed to get in.
Kindali tried to dive into an armchair that was out of sight, but it was too late. Draco had spotted her, and was beating his way through the throng and right up to Kindali. "You," he said, or more like screamed, so that the whole common room heard him. With his finger pointed an inch from Kindali's freckled nose, he continued, "We have to talk. So come with me."
Before she even knew what was happening, Draco grabbed her by the wrist and started marching towards the armless Grecian statue that guarded the Ravenclaw Tower entrance. She allowed herself to be dragged quietly, trying to wipe the sleep out of her eyes.
Out in the halls, students stopped to stare in curiosity at Malfoy leading a messy-haired girl in a yellow rubber ducky bathrobe, complete with slippers that quacked when she walked, with a small procession of agitated Ravenclaws following close behind. Kindali finally snapped out of her stupor as they headed towards the Slytherin House dungeons. "Draco! Let go of me!" She tried to yank her hand away from his, but his grip was too tight. "DRACO!" Her voice became shrill. "(Middle Name!) MALFOY!"
He stopped in front of the Slytherin House entrance, which was guarded by a portcullis that housed a large spider and its web. He turned to face her. "I knew I never should have told you my middle name."
"Password?" the spider asked. Draco muttered it and dragged Kindali through the cold stone doorway.
The Slytherins inside looked on curiously, and some guys even whistled and whooped suggestively as Draco dragged Kindali to his room. Kindali tried desperately to look around the cold, dim common room for Moona to free her from Draco's grip, but she was nowhere to be seen (Probably reading books in bed again, thought Kindali bitterly.) He dragged her by the arm as he descended a short set of stone steps into the boy's dorms.
"Get out!" Draco yelled forcefully at Crabbe and Goyle, who were steadily and speedily dwindling the pile of chocolates that were sitting between the two of them.
As they bumbled out, Kindali looked around at the room, familiar by now after several sessions of snogging in Draco's bed. The jade silk sheets that covered Crabbe and Goyle's beds were covered in candy wrappers, while Draco's portion of the room was perfectly tidy.
Wresting her arm out of his grip, Kindali strode crossly over to his bed and plopped herself down, her arms folded across her chest.
Draco stood exactly where he was, just staring at her for what seemed a long time. "I'm sorry," he finally blurted out.
"You should be!" said Kindali angrily, looking away from him at the floor. "You woke me up, embarrassed me in front of both our entire Houses, and quite frankly… you're being a royal prick!"
"I know," he said, looking at the grey rug in shame.
Kindali, despite her anger, couldn't help but think he looked cute standing there. She had to admit, it wasn't his entire fault. She did snap at him this morning. But he was the one keeping secrets from her! They weren't even really going out; all they did was snog and shag; why should she care what he did? It was all so confusing.
Draco walked over to the side of his perfect bed and sat down next to her in her rubber ducky bathrobe. He stared into her turquoise eyes, and, sensing that she would not try to rip his face off, kissed her gently.
Kindali's fury melted away, and she murmured, "I'm sorry for jumping at you this morning…"
"It's okay… but how about you jump me right now?" Draco smirked.
Kindali giggled. She was happy that they were all right again. "No, no…" she said, lying down. "I'm still quite sleepy."
"Well…" he sighed. "I know you want to know where I keep going off to…" and lay down next to her, staring up at the bed canopy quite solemnly. "But I promise you it's nothing that will hurt you. You'll know by the end of this year."
"I don't think Pansy would be very happy if she found you sleeping with another girl," Blaise Zabini said, while nudging Draco awake.
"You see, the key word there is 'sleeping'," said Draco, rubbing his eyes and sitting up. He looked over at Kindali, who was sleeping soundly, curled up next to him. "What time is it?"
"Dinner time," said Blaise. "You better get up, and take the mudblood girl with you."
Draco scowled at him. "She happens to be pureblood, Blaise."
"Whatever, but she's a Ravenclaw. She's not supposed to be here," said Blaise casually in his defense. "I'll see you at dinner." And he walked away up the flight of stone stairs into the Slytherin common room.
Draco looked at Kindali and tried to shake her awake. "She sleeps like a rock," he muttered.
"I heard that," mumbled Kindali from face-down in the green pillows. She sat up and looked around. Crabbe and Goyle were in the room, staring at her as though she were a Muggle in a Guy Fawkes mask. Rolling her eyes, she took out her wand and fixed her hair into a nice, neat ponytail.
"If you'll excuse me, I have to get back to my own dorm," she said, getting up off the bed and making her way past the two large boys and up the small staircase. She grimaced and walked out into the common room. She never liked the place much, it always seemed so dark and cold; not her style or comfort zone. She didn't know how Moona could deal with it.
"Hey, slut! I like your outfit!" It was one of Pansy's goon-bitches. All three were standing in front of the portcullis, blocking her way, Pansy in the middle.
Kindali didn't need half a moment to come up with a retort. Icily, she replied, "Well, that's rude, Pansy, you should thank someone when they give you a compliment. Especially if it's from one of your goon-bitches. Now please," she said wearily, "Don't give me an opportunity to give you another black eye to match your current one. By the way, how did you get that in the first place?"
Pansy looked like she was about to blow steam out of her ears. "Don't make me hex you!" she spat.
"Like you even need any more incentive to," said Kindali calmly with a smirk.
Before Pansy could attack Kindali, a voice said, "Now, now, getting in another fight? Wouldn't want that… Come on, Pansy, let's go get dinner." Draco had walked up behind Kindali while the exchange was taking place. He led Pansy out of the portcullis doorway, but just before the iron gate slid down again, he turned his head back to Kindali and winked.
Sighing, she followed suit, except she headed to her own tower, and not towards the Great Hall. She would go there and eat in a few minutes, just not in her rubber ducky bathrobe.
Meanwhile, back on the farm… er, in a corridor on the fifth floor… Cordelia was feeling quite stifled in a suit of armor. Her black PVC spy suit was giving her a wedgie, and in the confinement of the armor prohibited her from fixing it. But such measures were necessary: she happened to know that on most days, just before dinner, Harry would venture down this hallway towards the Great Hall, and today, she had a plan. Her arm was cramped up in the torso chamber, but was the only way she could hold her wand without making the suit of armor itself look conspicuous. Her wand tip poked out through the grille of the helmet, aimed at the general area in front of her post. Harry would be here any minute; she thought she could hear some footsteps dully resounding though the metal helmet. She tried to look down the hallway, but her wand hand was shoved up uncomfortably near her chin and she couldn't move. All she could do was wait until she saw him though the visor straight ahead, and zap him. She visualized the spell in her head.
And then – she saw him. He was walking gorgeously and unassumingly along. Now, she thought, and muttered a spell that shot out through her wand, unnoticed by Harry, at his shoes. Suddenly, they both untied, and he tripped onto the ground.
Success! Harry groaned and got up, looked at his shoes, and groaned again. He turned his back to the suit of armor, and bent over to retie them. Cordelia craned her head as far forward in the helmet as she could without falling to get a good look out of the visor.
Her plan had worked perfectly: she was now receiving a glorious eyeful of Potter derriere.
She sighed in happiness, while Harry fumbled with his shoelaces. She feasted her eyes upon it. It was so round and robust, from several healthy hours this season at Quidditch training. She smiled. Here, she could stare shamelessly at him and he – nor anyone else – even knew. But it seemed only a moment until Harry had nimbly fixed his shoes, and was up and continuing on his path to supper.
Cordelia sighed; it was over. But she did not dare do anything else until she heard his footsteps round a far corner. Once he was gone, she realized: how was she going to get out of this thing?
As Kindali walked into the Great Hall, her mouth started to water with the aroma of food. The enchanted ceiling above them showed that it was cloudy, and rain was beginning to fall. Her eyes drifted over the four House tables, trying to find Moona and Cordelia. To her disappointment, she saw that Cordelia wasn't there yet and Moona was sitting at the Slytherin table. Even though she had acted unfazed when talking with Pansy, inside she was furious and even a little afraid. After all, who wouldn't be? She was standing in the middle of the Slytherin common room, which was already hostile territory, and the students there definitely would have taken the side of that little bitch who had the audacity to be named Pansy. It was a bloody flower, and she was nothing close! Her parents should have named her Vlad the Impaler, thought Kindali as she made her way to her friend, that would have suited her better.
Sitting down across from Moona (to the disapproving looks of many Slytherins, although they didn't dare do anything more than call her names while at dinner,) Kindali didn't know whether to say something, or dig into the delicious smorgasbord in front of her. She decided on the food.
Her friend looked at her with a look of distaste on her face as she daintily minced her steak.
"What?" Kindali said, a piece of roast beef flying out of her mouth. "I haven't eaten since this morning! And where's Cordelia at?"
"She should be down here soon… you know how she always seems to get detained by something. How was your day of leisure?" asked Moona as she watched the flying beef land precariously close to her plate.
"Oh," Kindali swallowed. "I went straight back to sleep after Cord left this morning. I didn't wake up again until two when the common room was full of people who were yelling at Draco because he had the password and had come in. Turns out he was looking for me. When he saw me, he dragged me out into the halls and down into the dungeons…"
"Did he torture you?" asked Cordelia deviously, as she turned up right behind Kindali. Her hair looked a bit mussed, and she looked vaguely harassed overall.
"What?" Kindali asked blankly, staring at Cordelia's messy hair questioningly.
"Well…" Cordelia said, smoothing her hair a bit, "I always thought that Malfoy would have a whip or something and use it on you in some sadistic love ritual of yours."
Ignoring the statement, Kindali continued. "Anywhoo, this whole time I was in my ducky bathrobe; you know, the one I bought at Nordstrom, that one Muggle department store? Well, he dragged me to his dorm room where we said we were sorry and then fell asleep until about fifteen minutes ago."
"Is that all?" asked Moona. She had a feeling that Kindali had something else to say.
"Besides Vlad the Impaler threatening to hex me?" said Kindali, scooping some red potatoes and gravy onto her plate. "No… we better finish eating, though. Our detention starts in half an hour."
"Vlad the Impaler?" asked Cordelia quizzically.
"I think she means Flower Girl, am I right?"
Kindali nodded at Moona. "The name suits her better, don't you think?" she asked them. They both nodded.
"Her new name shall be Vlad!" shouted Cordelia, raising her fork full of broccoli in the air.
"Vlad!" chorused Moona and Kindali.
Students from around them turned to look at the laughing girls. That was the second disruption they had caused today.
"Well, I'm glad you're in a better mood," said Moona cheerfully.
"Yeah," agreed Cordelia. "The way you were acting this morning, I thought you were going to sleep or mope the rest of this week away."
"I was going to. But I didn't want to make detention even worse, or screw up my Quidditch practice tomorrow."
Silence ensued their conversation for a moment, and then a low growl emitted from Cordelia. Both Kindali and Moona looked to see her narrowed eyes glaring across the Great Hall. Kindali craned her neck and Moona turned her head around to follow her gaze, to where Ginny Weasley was sitting, laughing and staring into the eyes of Harry Potter.
"Here we go again," Moona mumbled to Kindali.
"Look at her just sit there and talk to him. It disgusts me," Cordelia muttered angrily to them. She wasn't like Kindali, who screamed things about her personal life so loud that the whole world would know, or Moona, who was a tightly closed bottle of secrets. Cordelia was controlled enough so that she could tell the people she wanted to tell without the whole Great Hall hearing.
"You know, you could talk to him too," Kindali suggested politely.
At that comment, Cordelia turned to the Ravenclaw. "Oh sure, I'll just walk up and ask him how the weather is or something, is that right?" she spat.
"Well, you could do that… but I would suggest asking him about something more interesting," said Moona, while trying to keep a straight face. "How about how the Gryffindor Quidditch team is doing, you know he loves Quidditch, and he's the Captain this year."
"Yeah, there's a match coming up between Gryffindor and Ravenclaw, maybe tell him that your friend Kindali the Beater thinks she can hit him at least three times with a Bludger during the game and she wants to bet on it," said Kindali helpfully. She was admittedly had a very nasty swing, and probably could hit Harry if she aimed at him, despite him and his fancy broom.
Cordelia seemed to hesitate for a moment, but then determination filled her green eyes. "You guys are right. I'm going to do it!" she said fiercely. "I'm going to talk to Harry Potter!" She stood up, started walking confidently towards the Gryffindor table, stopped, and then walked right back.
"I told you she wasn't going to do it," smiled Kindali, winking at Moona. "Hand over the five Galleons."
After catching on at what her friend was trying to do, Moona sighed and dug in her pockets while looking at Cordelia. "I thought you would at least get past the Ravenclaw table."
Cordelia stared angrily at her two best friends. She never thought they would bet on her, much less bet against her. "Oh, I just came back, to, um… get a drink!" she stammered, and, deciding that it was a good cover-up, continued. "Yes, I'm feeling a bit parched." She reached for her goblet of pumpkin juice with her hands in tremors, and gulped the last of it down.
Moona stopped digging in her pockets. "Aha, the bet is not won yet!" she said theatrically, then turned to Cordelia. "Go get him, tiger! Maul him with your charm!"
"Charm, yeah…" Cordelia said, laughing nervously. She put down her goblet again, and this time began walking very slowly, aware that both her friends' eyes were on her. Her heart pounded as she progressed towards where Harry was sitting, and he was too fixed on stupid Ginny to notice she was coming towards him. Why did he have that effect on her? She was a Gryffindor, for Merlin's sake! She wasn't scared of anything, but trying to talk to Harry made her want to run very far in the opposite direction.
As she approached him, her heart began pounding. "Hey Harry," she said, pretty much inaudibly.
Harry didn't notice her, only kept talking to Ron and Hermione, and Cordelia felt it stab in her heart. But she was there already, and if she turned around now, she would look stupid beyond all stupidity. Sweating profusely, she reached out her shaking arm and tapped him on the shoulder.
Harry turned around with a jolt, surprised to see someone behind him. "Oh… hey!" he said.
"H… Hi… Haa- Harry," Cordelia spluttered. She was so nervous she didn't realize how angelically beautiful his face was.
Harry didn't help the conversation much along, only stared at her. So did Ron and Hermione, quizzically, as though they'd never seen her before, either.
"I, um," Cordelia tried to say. "My fir- my friend, over in Ravenclaw," she pointed. "Um… well, there's a Quidditch match coming up, right?"
"Yeah, between Gryffindor and Ravenclaw…" said Harry. It wasn't condescending, but curious. Cordelia felt stupid either way.
"My friend, she's one of the Beaters," she managed to say. "Um, she, uh, she thinks she can beat you! I mean, she thinks she can manage to knock you off your broom, with a Bludger… heh… yeah, she thinks she can, and she wants to, er, bet on it!"
Harry looked at her, his brows knitted for a second, and then he said, "What's her name?"
"Er… Kinda… Kindali Sidera!"
Harry looked over to the Ravenclaw table, and then back at Cordelia. "She wants to bet on it, huh?" he said.
"Yes," answered Cordelia.
Harry laughed, and then seemingly got off-subject. "We have class together, don't we?"
Cordelia's heart soared. "Yes, we do!" she smiled.
"Oh, no, I meant, me and her," he corrected her, not noticing that he'd just stabbed her heart with a shish kabob stick and was now roasting it on a fire.
"Oh…" Cordelia said. "I think so. I don't know…"
"Well, if I don't," he said, still smiling. "Tell her I'll take her bet! Ten galleons!"
"Oh… okay," said Cordelia wearily. "I'll tell her."
And she walked away, leaving Harry to his immaculate sphere of friends, back to the Slytherin table, where ironically, she felt much more comfortable.
"Well?" asked Kindali and Moona excitedly.
"I told him that you wanted to bet you could knock him off his broom at the next game," said Cordelia, sitting down again and wiping her forehead with a napkin. "He says he'll take your bet."
Kindali's face suddenly dropped. "You actually told him that?!" she nearly screamed. "I didn't mean seriously! Great, now I'll actually have to try to knock him off his damn broom!"
Cordelia lost it. "Well I'm sorry!" she yelled. "I couldn't think of anything else, what did you expect me to say?!"
"Not that I wanted to knock him off his broom!" yelled Kindali back. "That's not even what I said; I said I could bash him three times during the game with a Bludger!"
Moona sighed. "Guys…" she tried.
"No, Moona," Cordelia said, a few tears beginning to spill down her face. "Don't get in this. This is between me and Kindali, who stupidly suggested something and then didn't want me to actually say it!"
"I was only giving an example, a pointer!" cried Kindali.
"YOU GUYS!" yelled Moona above them. For the third time today, the Great Hall was disturbed by their racket; almost everyone turned towards them and stared in silence. Moona's pale face turned pink in embarrassment. She lowered her voice and said, "We've got detention tonight, I don't want you guys to be arguing the whole time. Yes, Cord, it was a stupid thing for Kin to suggest, but now that it's done, there's no need to fight about it. Besides, Kin, I bet you could knock Harry off his broom. You should have no problem winning a bet like that with a Beater's arm like yours."
Both Cordelia and Kindali fiddled with their silverware and the scraps on their plates, but said nothing.
"That's right," Moona said calmly. "You don't have to say it now. But I don't want either of you talking until you're ready to apologize to each other." She then detached herself from the situation, which she had a knack for doing, and helped herself to some hot apple cobbler. The blonde and the redhead beside her still were silent, and the cloudy ceiling overhead had begun to pour rain profusely.
A/N: Woo! What a down-note. Rain, arguments, roast beef flying everywhere, and detention next thing! How interesting, don't you think? Yes, you do. And since you read this chapter, you ought to review. HINT HINT. Really, we would love you forevar (no that is not a typo.) Again, hope you enjoyed it. All kinds of reviews – praise and criticism alike – are welcome.
Lots of lub,
Moona Peruna and Kindali Sidera