"Why don't we have sex?" Luna asked.

Everyone stopped there conversations and turned shocked eyes to Luna. She simply shrugged and continued down the hall to the Headmistress's office. Harry was the third person to recover from that statement.

"Where did that thought come from, Luna?" Harry asked with rounded eyes.

"Group sex could be a great bonding exercise, although ..." her face took on a fleet pensive look as she let the thought trail. It was a look Harry seldom saw on the airy blonde.

His train of thought was cut off by a laugh that if he had known the word for he would have described as boisterous. Behind him, one Parkinson girl was snorting out her laughter in a way he never expected her to. It was so... un-pureblood like.

"Group sex!" Parkinson guffawed as she pushed herself away from Draco. She casually placed her arm around the blonde girl. She hung off of Luna like she used to hang off of Draco in her younger years.

"That's not that bad of an idea. I like the way you think"

Luna nodded her head and opened her pink lips to respond when a noise interrupted her. Harry quickly turned her eyes to the other blonde female in the group. This one, he didn't like that much. He only tolerated her due to her being with his close friend and the fact she was a fellow Gryffindor. He found her to be quite rude and quick to criticize anyone she believed to be a threat in any form or fashion. As it appeared Pansy Parkinson was added to what Harry called Lavender's blacklist that included many Hogwarts' females. Her recent input was in the form of a scornful scoff directed at the girl with the short, black hair.

"Of course someone like you would like such thing." She commented.

Ron snickered at what he must have thought was a witty remark.

As quick as a snitch Parkinson turned around. She still kept her right arm around the pretty... kind blonde. Parkinson's hazel eyes narrowed threateningly at the blonde bimbo. A hint of a snarl was forming on her lips. Harry realised that in this moment, Parkinson slightly looked liked an actual pug, or some other type of dog with chubby cheeks.

"What do you mean by that" it wasn't a question.

Harry noticed how Theo seemed very uncomfortable by the progression of this.

"Why don't we just head to the office and part ways, yeah? It's right there, up those steps."

Theo was right. Harry could see the gargoyle from where he stood. After taking a few shortcuts, they quickly arrived at the hall leading to the Headmaster's office in the Headmaster's tower. Harry had discreetly checked his map to find these passages. Maybe he shouldn't have.

"You know exactly what I mean"

"I have had it up to hear with your bullshit, you twat! You've been looking for something for the longest while and unlike Granger here, I will give you what you're looking for! With interest!"

And with that Parkinson whipped out her wand. Following with the same fervour was Lavender.

"BRING IT, YOU BINT! "

Just as they began, a spell was uttered by two different people.

"Petrificus Totalus"

Ginny and Hermione lowered their wands as the two girls stiffened. Parkinson fell into Ron as Lavender came extremely close to fall on the floor, only to be caught by a reluctant Theo at the last second. Hermione quickly placed a silencing spell on Lavender.

"Oh Merlin, sweet relief" Ginny moaned, "let's go and get this over with. Ron, Nott, can you be dears and carry the girls your holding up the stairs"

Nott shrugged at this and simply levitated the girl

"Oi! Why does he get to carry my girl?!"

"Because it seems like he's the only one can handle her." Zabini idiotically imputed.

Harry winced at the jab. He knew that was a slightly sore spot for Ronald. Ron always felt as though he wasn't in some kind of control in his relationships. Harry wanted to say something...but at the same time he had nothing to do with it. His role as peacekeeper kept his mouth shut and standing next to Hermione. Or maybe it was his Slytherin like self preservation.

Hermione rolled her eyes and continued up the stairs. Harry knew she was thinking the most logical thing was to get this over and done with, but that was the problem with Hermione: she hardly ever thought with her heart. Don't get him wrong, he loved Hermione as much as humanly possible, but sometimes she was blind to the emotions of the group, including her own. She was so accustomed with the divide that sometimes she reacted too much or not enough. She had made leaps and bounds in these changes over the years especially as of the recent few months after the war. But sometimes, like now, she could be oblivious to tension. Striding behind her was a strangely quiet Draco Malfoy, his pale hands locked behind his neck.

"Like any of you bloody Slytherins would know better. I know your track record Zabini." Ron sneered at the dark Italian wizard.

He was carrying Pansy physically in his arms, not bothering to embarrass himself with Hermione correcting him on how to properly say 'Wingardium Leviosa'. He glared menacingly at the broad-shouldered male.

"Why don't we just listen to Theo, go up those damn stairs and see what all this nonsense is about Wease-"

"Shut up! Why don't you fucking respect my name you slowly bloody fucking Dea-"

"Mister Weasley," -everyone looked up at the ex-Transfigurations professor- " This is deplorable behavior. One more step and I will have to write to your mother about this.

Ron was embarrassed enough to blush and look away.

"What are you doing there? Step into my office"

"Thank Gryffindor" Harry said breaking his silence at long last.

He rushed up the stair giving a greeting to do gargoyle as he passed in. Maybe the shortcut was the best idea after all.

...888...

Minerva waited until the last student walked in. As Zabini swaggered inside she quickly whispered the spell to the gargoyle to not let a soul in. She strode back to her desk where Aurora was already perched. Pansy and Lavender were unfrozen and sitting quietly, although Lavender looked like a toddler fit, to throw a tantrum. With a wave of her wand and a muttering of words the room locked, the windows snapped shut causing the students to jump, all the figures in the paintings left the room and an unsettling silence filled it.

The students looked around. Minerva could feel their confusion and anxieties as she sat down behind the desk. She let out a heavy sigh, the weight of what she had to say lay heavily on her shoulders.

"Students, I know that you all are trying to heal from the war that took place. I must congratulate you on even deciding to return and grace these walls once again. This war has... caused, many things to change. "

Hermione being ever inquisitive asked the question that was on everyone's mind.

"What exactly do you mean, Headmistress?"

Aurora gave a mirthless laugh at the question shaking her head, stifling a yawn while she spoke.

"It simply means that it is in the stars for you to have an exciting year, as usual."

Harry's shoulders sagged slightly, before he squared up. Next to him, Hermione's eyes sharpened and there was a slight twitch to her wand arm. Draco's face kept a Slytherin stoicism that was more or less copied by his friends, save Blaise who was visually interested and confused at the end of the couch. Ronald and his sister were quickly on edge, eyes darting about. Lavender clung to Ronald in worry that caused the Parkinson heir to lightly scoff and roll her eyes from her place next to Theodore. Luna looked unaffected by all of this as she was in her perpetual state of airiness.

Minerva rotated her shoulders and explained further.

"Before Salazar Slytherin and Godric Gryffindor fought resulting in Salazar's leaving, Rowena Ravenclaw had the foresight to understand that their differences would cause a split, resulting in bad blood that would continue on into their houses. So with this she placed a spell on to the very bricks of the castle, as a failsafe of sorts, in case there was ever a big dispute, especially, between the houses of Gryffindor and Slytherin."

"Pardon, I don't need to be overtly rude but-" Theo started before being interrupted by Blaise who did not have the patience for his semantics.

"Why are we here? In all honesty, this is bad and everything, but it is quite dodgy for you to be informing just us select few and not just the students heads'."

"Blaise, it is most likely because she needs us, you wanker" Draco said with the Malfoy smirk on his face.

...888...

Aurora watched as he reclined back into the couch with the strange grace that all Malfoys carried with them. It quickly wavered as he winced from the sharp elbow he sneakily received from the Head Girl at his left. The sight intrigued her but she was too tired to think too hard on it. She was not accustomed to being up during the day since her entire subject happened at night. She yawned as Minerva continued.

"Yes we need you, Mr. Zabini. This is no simple spell, it is an old curse,for lack of a better term. Luckily we know how to fix it. It is simple actually, what activated Ravenclaw's curse was a lack of unity. What she said will fix it would be the most influential people from the warring houses to leave there animosity behind them, causing the majority of the school to follow."

Aurora decided to speed this along.

"Simply put, we need you to become friends before school officially opens in September."

Harry looked at her and after a moment, gave a light chuckle that slowly increased in volume.

"And what exactly is so funny, Mr Potter?" Minerva asked

"Well, your problem is already fixed, yeah?"

"What do you mean, Mr. Potter? My patience is slipping"

Hermione decided to answer this.

"If all that is required is for the most influential people to become friends then it has happened since the Battle of Hogwarts "

Aurora's eyebrows flew high on her forehead.

"Harry and Draco are already friends. Since that fateful morning in May."

"You say that as though we didn't turn over a new leaf as well that day, Hermione "

"We may have, but I thought it would be more fitting to just name the two most infamous students attending Hogwarts"

"Oh, you think that I'm infamous?"

"Of course," she said matter-of-factly, "everyone knows about your over-sized ego"

Draco had a mock look of shock. It didn't escape Aurora's notice that they seemed to be in their own world, forgetting where they were. Harry was shaking his head with a smile on his face as though this was a regular occurrence in his life. The others, on the other hand looked on in awe at the interaction. They clearly knew about this given that they were not shocked, although they seemed a bit uncomfortable. It must still be fresh information then, she deduced.

Draco continued in an amused drawl.

"Surely you know that isn't the only big thing they talk about concerning me?"

"Mr. Malfoy!" Minerva decided she needed to stop this quickly sinking conversation.

"Professor, I was clearly speaking about my personal Gringotts account. What did you misconstrue?" The Head Girl rolled her eyes as her blond counterpart had the most innocent express donning her face.

Minerva blinked. And then blinked again. Aurora could see the old Gryffindor weighing her replies in her head. She couldn't help but snicker slightly at the insanity of this meeting. Is this what she missed during the sunny periods of the day? If this was how they behaved now, imagine when... She let her thoughts trail off as Minerva began to speak once again.

"We are not entirely sure what the consequences are, seeing that this issue has only been recently brought to light. We want to be sure that we do not leave any loopholes that can result in a catastrophe, similar to what a Marriage Law, may bring.

It is quite fortuitous that you all are here. I was about to owl each of you separately when you arrived. To meet our needs, as you would already know, we need you to get along with each other by the time school opens. Luckily, the Hufflepuffs are extremely forgiving and the Ravenclaws choose whom they like based on intelligence and care not for house rivalry. But Gryffindor moves like pack animals and Slytherin follows a strict hierarchical structure. We believe that you all are the biggest influencers of the school and that you are fully capable of doing this task."

"So you're putting the fate of the school in our hands?" Draco hummed at Blaise's question.

"Well," Pansy said as she stood up dusting some unforeseen dust from her above-the-knee length skirt, "I'm out. I honestly can't handle all this responsibility. Maybe if I had to stop mocking them or may be just play nice with Potter and Granger and Weaselette to a lesser degree I could, but you see them," she jutted her chin before shaking her head negatively at the end of the right side of the truck.

Seated there, were whom Aurora considered the most annoying couple in Hogwarts. She did not like them when they were together in Fifth or Six Year. She was disappointed that they were together again. But as a teacher, she endeavored to stay out of the love lives of students unless in the confines of her head.

" Ms Parkinson, please take a seat. This what we are organizing is a fall back plan of sorts. We are working diligently, albeit, discreetly to break the curse. Even without the curse, your Headmistress was,already working on bringing House Unity to Hogwarts. If you refuse, the only other option would be to dismantle the houses and thus house related activities."

"I'm sorry, but, excuse me Professor Sinistra, did you just say-"

"Yes I did. Now do you understand the severity of this predicament?"

They all nodded.

"Good," Minerva said as she rose from behind her desk.

" You will be staying in the Heads' tower until further notice. You can floo there through the fireplace. The house elves would bring your bags to you."

...888...

Minerva mumbled a spell and the windows flew open. One by one the portraits returned to their paintings. Hermione was the first to take the unspoken dismissal. Then Luna, Theo, Harry, Pansy, Draco, Blaise, Ginny. With great reluctance Ron dragged himself followed by his girl to stand in the wide fireplace.

"Good luck to you all, and remember: the portraits will not allow roaming after dinner. We shall give you an extra half an hour this night."

She turned her back on them and left into another room with the astronomy professor.

With the floor powder in her hand, she threw it to the ground calling her destination's name. A few seconds later they appeared in the Heads' common room. A low whistle alerted Hermione to a simple fact; the common room was still a sex dungeon. Her face redeemed at this.

With a thought, she reverted the room back to normal and 8 extra rooms were made for her guests.

"A magical room, nice." Ginny stated appreciably

Draco took this point to set some ground rules. There will be no sex in the common room, no violence that wasn't playful in meaning, no coming back with people who were not of this group, silencing charms on the room if you scratch those urges, especially loudly. A shimmer ran through the room as Draco spoke. The rules were set, now the room would prevent and or punish those who broke the rules.

"So, how do we bond in such a way that we become the close friends that McGonagall wants us to be?" Draco asked sitting on one of the cream couches

"Alcohol?" Pansy chimed

"Deep conversations?" Harry gave

"Embarrassing situations" Blaise offered

"Dangerous perils" Theo said after some thought

"A lot of alcohol" Ron gave.

"No to all of those" Draco said as he watched the people in the room. Are these the people he was stuck with? He wanted to ease in to the Gryffindor's hearts. Now he had to barrage into this. He needed something like a stress reliever, something with a bitter or metallic taste. He needed to get away from there and into his room. Where was his room? He ruminated on this question for a second before Hermione distracted him with her eureka moment.

"Wait, I got it!" Hermione said after running the dilemma over in her head.

"Why don't we do all of it"

"I think that the "Brightest Witch" has finally checked out" lavender joked.

Hermione pointedly ignored the curvaceous blonde female. She continued to speak.

"We are all stuck in a tower together, with nothing but time on our hands. For some, alcohol is the only way for any of you to properly converse. Throw in some embarrassing situations that force you to show your merit. But, it must be fun and have some edge to it."

"Oh," Ginny said biting the bait Hermione obviously laid. "A game. How didn't any of us think of it?"

Everyone embarrassingly looked at each other. Really, why did no one else think of it before? Then the naysayer of the group spoke.

"How are we going to play a game? Where are we going to get one? Are you going to make us play Truth or Dare with Veritaserum?"

"Why don't you ask these kind of questions in class, you bint." Pansy sneered as she rolled her eyes.

"Pansy, easy. She does have a point." Theo said with practicality.

At this point, Luna chimes in.

"We can procure one from Professor Trelawney. It is a well known secret in Ravenclaw that she is a collector of many magical games, usually rare. Ginny, Harry, would you mind accompanying me to her room?"

"Sure!"

"N-no problem" Harry said as he flamed embarrassment.

"Shall we." He said. Then the trio left. Malfoy had already got up to retire to his room.

"I'm going to the library to get a book." Theo announced.

"Okay guys, let's play a game" Hermione and Draco said in synchronization

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happy Valentine's