AN-sorry this took so long, I've been kind of bussy, I've fixed a couple of mistakes in the earlier chapters (spelling, grammatical) and there is more Tery Boot in this chapter(as requested:)), also thank you very much to Punkindoodle, shelimar and silke knuts for your reveiws, they were very encouraging, okay well happy easter everybody and I hope you enjoy the update!
It was unthinkable. It was mind boggling, but it was true.
Terry Boot, of Ravenclaw house, tied for top of the year, dignified, intelligent, logical, Terry Boot, was sitting under a staircase, pouting.
And he would forever be thankful that the only people who could see him would never be able tell a soul, after all, they would also have to explain what it was they were doing, huddled in a room under a stair case with the pouting Terry Boot, as well as an assortment of misfits, just an hour before the quidditch match was to start.
He narrowed his eyes at the amused faces of Draco Malfoy and Seamus Finnigan.
Just because they wouldn't tell, didn't mean he wasn't considering killing them simply for having seen him pout.
His train of thought was interrupted as a slam was heard, he turned to see Luna Lovegood, wandering aimlessly into the room (it could not be called a cupboard, giving the sheer size of it) before settling her self, cross-legged on the floor by Malfoy.
"I'm glad you wrote," She announced with deadly seriousness, "The nargals are under threat, if the culling keeps up much longer they're not going to last-"
"Luna" Terry interrupted, his voice unusually sharp, "that is not what I wanted to talk about. We have bigger problems."
Malfoy adapted a mock-serious face "oh yes, from what Boot's said to us already it's simply dire."
The Ravenclaw boy shot him a fierce glare and continued, "Since that little…incident on the astronomy tower, Ron Weasly has taken it upon himself to announce to the world that we are…dating."
"Dun duh duh!"
"Shut it Malfoy,"
"Here, here"
"You were laughing!"
"Yeah well…Shut it Malfoy"
"Both of you shut it!" Terry snapped, "My point is that we aren't dating."
"I concur." Stated Luna, absently watching a spider crawl along the roof.
He waited for her to elaborate, she did not.
"Well it's all well and good that you concur but THAT DOESN'T HELP THE SITUATION!"
"And what do you suggest, would help the situation?" she replied coolly, "a denial will seem like we're trying to cover it up."
Terry looked at her, dumbfounded, "But if we do nothing people will think its true! Is that what you want! To just let them dictate our lives! I WILL NOT STAND FOR IT! NOT THIS DAY!" he screamed hysterically leaping to his feat and grabbing the closest object, intending to throw it at the next person who dared to oppose him.
"Boot," soothed Seamus calmingly, "you need to put the mop dow- ARRRGHHH!"
"And here was me thinking I was the only one who wanted to do that."
"SHUT IT MALFOY!"
"Did the mop give you brain damage or were you always this redundant?"
"THAT'S IT! BOOT, GIVE ME THE MOP! I'M GOING TO BEAT THIS FERRET TO KINGDOM COME!"
"You can't do that!" shouted Luna, for once seeming like she would be the sane one in the circumstance, "Kingdom Come is in an entirely different dimension!" that lasted about 3 seconds.
"I'LL GET A RUN UP THEN!"
"Calm down Seamus!"
"ME CALM DOWN? YOU'RE THE ONE WHO JUST USED A MOP AS A PROJECTILE!"
"Yes well…I apologize, I was just a little…riled up, but I think I'm ok now." He replied sheepishly, settling himself back on the floor and pinning Malfoy with a glare to silence the sarcastic remark that was forming in his mind at that very moment.
Seamus continued to scowl but took a step back from Malfoy and sat as well "Why do we need to be here anyway, this doesn't involve us!"
"Because," growled Terry, shifting his glare to the Gryffindor, "if you two had been less cryptic and just shouted 'HIDE' when you knew people were coming we could have hidden too, rather than subjecting ourselves to this humiliation!"
"Humiliation," repeated Luna, in a tone of mild surprise, "is that what I am?"
"No! I just meant," he fumbled for an excuse, "the astronomy tower! I mean it's so tacky, gives people a bad reputation!"
She eyed him gravely for a moment before brightening as an idea struck her.
"I know what we need to do." She announced with absolute assuredness.
"What?" questioned Boot carefully, wary of anything that would make this particular girl smile.
"Its flawless, after this, no one will think we're going out," she continued, avoiding her fellow Ravenclaw's question, "you two," she pointed to Draco and Seamus, "go on ahead, we'll meet you in the charms corridor in a minute,"
They both complied, Seamus shooting her a curious look while Malfoy just grinned, undoubtedly having 'read' her plan already.
Even after they had left, Luna still refused to reveal the plot, simply warning him to 'follow her lead'. Five minutes after the departure of the others, the Ravenclaws walked silently out of the 'room' and down to the packed charms corridor.
Still confused, Terry turned to ask the blonde girl what was happening, only to find her in tears with a furious expression on her usually airy features.
"I CANNOT BELIEVE YOU!" she yelled angrily, "HOW CAN YOU JUST SAY, 'WE'RE BREAKING UP' AND EXPECT IT TO BE DONE? JUST LIKE THAT?'
The Ravenclaw boy watched in horror as people started to stop and gawk at his 'break-up'.
"AFTER EVERYTHING WE'VE BEEN THROUGH, EVERYTHING YOU SAID TO ME! IT WAS ALL LIES! YOU SAID I WAS YOUR MOON-FLOWER!"
"I DID NOT!" he shouted back, finally regaining the use of his voice, all eyes were now on him.
He didn't know what possessed him to do it but in a split second he was yelling again, "I NEVER CALLED YOU THAT! YOU'RE REMEMBERING SOMEONE ELSE! DID YOU CHEAT ON ME?"
He could have sworn he heard a snort of laughter coming from within the crowd.
Luna, for her part, didn't miss a beat, "WELL IF I DID IT'S ONLY BECAUSE YOU NEVER SHOWED ME ANY LOVE! I NEED LOVE! LOVE ME!"
"NEVER!" he roared back dramatically.
"THEN YOU'RE RIGHT BOOT," she spat, "WE ARE OVER!" and with that final statement she stormed back down the corridor and out of sight.
Not sparing a glance at any of the spectators (bar one rather stern glare to Seamus who was shaking with silent laughter) he quickly strode in the opposite direction in complete shock.
It was unthinkable.
Terry Boot had just made a complete fool of himself.
And it was fun.
oOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo
After retrieving his broom and quidditch uniform from the dungeons, a small wave of fear crept up Draco's spine. He really had intended to ask Boot about the dementors in relation to the match, but he had been scared he might tell him not to play and he couldn't just back out of the game now, Slytherin would lose!
He shook his head lightly and began the walk down to the pitch. As he drew closer the headache that had been quietly poking at him started to pound relentlessly, he winced slightly and clenched his jaw but continued on, none the less.
He marched determinedly into the change rooms as per usual, shrugging off Urquhart's scolding for being late. He changed as quickly as he could, giving the circumstances and followed the line of players as they made their way onto the pitch, struggling to keep himself upright.
Out side it was deafening, the space in his head that wasn't filled with pain was taken up by the loud cheers and boos of the crowed, small droplets of blood began to drip out of his ears. in a stroke of genius earlier that day, he'd put a modified impervius charm on his ears so any blood would automatically bounce off of him before anyone could notice, it was a little disturbing to see tiny drops of your own blood fly past you but he managed to ignore them as he mounted his broom and kicked off. For the next 5 minutes the seeker's only coherent thought was to 'find that stupid little winged ball before he died', it had seemed like a fairly good ultimatum at the time.
The blob of color logic told him was Chang was tailing him and for the life of him Draco didn't know why, he was barely up to moving the broom at all, let alone flying anywhere useful.
He raised an eyebrow at her, to which, judging by the red that now joined the other mass of color, she blushed.
He rolled his eyes and was about to turn away when a thought struck him, or rather, a feeling.
Chang was nervous.
And for that split second he had felt her nervousness, the force that had been feeding off him, let up.
He shut his eyes and tried to search for another emotion, it wasn't long before huge torrents of excitement, flooded his system, engulfing the pain and sending jolts through him.
He shivered slightly and snapped his eyes open, frantically seeking out the snitch. It must have been quite a sight to see, one of the seekers bouncing from lethargic to hyperactive in half a second, but that's what happened.
Draco twitched his broom in every direction, circling the field at top speed, racing to one end, before breaking sharply and going back again. Luckily for him, most spectators seemed to take this as a diversionary tactic, rather than a sporadic display of insanity.
As far as it went diversionary wise, it was working, Cho was tiring after trying fruitlessly to catch the Slytherin seeker, but Draco hadn't even noticed her, he was jittering excitedly on his broom, flicking his gaze across the field to the Ravenclaw goal hoops were. And there it was. That flash of gold. He didn't even pause, launching himself full pelt at the hoop, not even noticing when he had stared to spin torpedo-style, before grabbing the snitch in one rapid movement.
YES, YES! I CAUGHT IT, IM SO BLOODY HAPPY, no not happy, EXCITED, THIS IS SO SUSPECEFUL
The voice was yipping in his ear but something else (presumably logic) was telling him, the excitement was over, there wasn't anymore suspense. Gradually, he let the feeling drain away, with every second the crushing pain was ebbing back into him.
The moment his feet hit the ground, Draco was practically running back into the castle, not bothering to change. Just one minute after he'd bolted into the deserted common room and collapsed on the couch, the wall reopened to admit Daphne Greengrass.
It was at this point Draco knew he was in trouble.
Daphne, was the kind of person who asked questions, lots of them, it would all seem like innocent curiosity, right up until her eyes would narrow and she'd switch into what was commonly referred to as 'lawyer-Daphne', usually Draco found this insanely hilarious to witness, needless to say this was not one such occasion.
She looked him over, taking his slightly paler than normal complexion and the instability in his posture,
"Are you sick?" she asked finally after completing her inspection.
He deliberated carefully over his answer, knowing what one slip up could mean, "Just a bit" he answered slowly.
She paced slowly in front of him, "are you on any potions?"
"No"
"Drugs?"
"No"
"Miscellaneous substances of an illicit nature?"
"Re-phrase"
"Have you ingested any unrecognizable substances?"
"Yes Daph, I ate some gum/lint hybrid I found under the table"
"Do you have a sample?"
He rolled his eyes, "Sarcasm Daphne,"
"Is sarcasm a defense mechanism for you?"
"No, I just never had any friends!"
"Is that a yes?"
"I'm lonely Daphne, be my friend!"
"Draco-"
"DON'T LEAVE ME ALONE!"
"Arrghh!" she growled, throwing her hands up and falling onto the couch next to him, if Daphne was the lawyer, then Draco was undeniably the defendant pleading insanity.
"Fine," the brown-haired girl sighed, exasperated, "keep your secrets, see if I care!"
"But you do care! YOU ARE MY FRIEND!" he yelped in mock relief.
She shot him a sharp glare, "Just because I won't torture information out of you, doesn't mean I won't torture you just for the hell of it!"
He laughed slightly and she shot him a quizzeld look, and with good reason. They weren't good friends, occasionally they would sit next to each other in charms and chat or join together to hex someone, but that was about the extent of it, in all the time she'd known him, Daphne had NEVER made Draco laugh.
She narrowed her eyes, "Your acting odd."
"What, not even gonna ask now?" he questioned, effectively hiding his nervousness.
"Well its not a question," she tilted her head, watching him intently, "your laughing, you don't laugh a lot, and you've been disappearing lately, saying you have homework but I'm in most of your classes and I haven't had much," she paused slightly, contemplating him silently, "usually I'd say you were seeing someone but that wouldn't account for the sickness, there's something going on with you Draco Malfoy and I will find out what." She had recited this statement idly, as if it was something she had barley given any thought to it, but the accusation was clear.
Before he could reply, Draco's ears were suddenly assaulted by the cheers of entirety of Slytherin trooping in.
"OH DRAKEY THAT WAS WONDERFUL!" shouted Pansy, smiling from ear to ear.
Blaise followed her in, smiling casually, "Yeah that was a great game, but what was up with the psycho flying?"
Pansy rolled her eyes throwing her arms around Draco in a hug, "Oh who cares what it was, Hooch loved it!"
While the rest of his house celebrated around him, Draco's gaze near left Daphne, she appeared at ease, smiling happily at her house mates, but her appearance was the last thing on the empaths mind.
He was a little preoccupied with the raw determination coming off her in waves.
oOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo
It was 10pm and Seamus Finnigan was well and truly ready to sleep. He had spent his day, plotting a breakup with nerds and a jerk, being viciously assaulted by one of aforementioned nerds, before watching the jerk play the craziest game of quidditch he'd seen in a long time, and was now officially tired.
"Night Dean!" he called from the top of the boy's staircase.
"What's the secret Seam?" his best friend yelled back.
Seamus smiled blearily, while he hadn't told his friends what he knew about Malfoy, he was using the fact that for once in his life, he had a secret to taunt them.
"The secret kind!" he shouted, before entering the dormitory.
Within minute he was lying, face down on his bed(and quite possibly slowly suffocating himself), and lazily patted his hand onto the bedside table, searching blindly for the 'off' switch on his light, after several seconds of search with no avail, he sighed and lifted himself up to look for the switch and groaned at what he saw,
Stair room, 10:30 don't be late!-Boot
That stupid parchment, he had spent more than enough time working on 'inter-house relations' for one day.
After dismissing the idea of pretending he didn't get the message (Boot would kill him) he grabbed his cloak and wandered towards the door at which point he immediately perked up. He was going to have to sneak out.
That was so cool.
Or so Seamus had decided.
Peaking out into the common room, the Irish boy cringed, it was pretty packed, that would make this difficult, quietly shutting the door again, he set to work, devising a plan.
He had never been any good at disillusionment charms and he didn't have an invisibility cloak so there wasn't allot he could do by way of invisibility, but there was something he could do for camouflage.
He smiled to himself and muttered 'umbra'. The effect was instantaneous, a black mist shrouded around him. The shadow charm.
Quickly and quietly he snuck out the door and down the stairs towards the portrait hole, dodging into dark corners whenever someone looked his way, he had almost made it out when…
"MY SHADOW IS BIGGER THAN YOUR SHADOW"
He stared shocked at the tiny first year, pointing directly at him. A larger first year looked incredulously at the 'shadow'.
"That's not your shadow, you just used some charm to make that!" he growled.
"I did not," piped the first one, "I'll prove it! Just you watch," he started to flail his arms wildly, Seamus realized just in time what he was doing, and began to mimic the flailing, subtly inching closer to the portrait.
Over the duration of the next 5 minutes, the 6th year Gryffindor found himself flailing, moon walking and doing several poses he would later claim were strictly mythological, trying to sate the small boy.
Eventually his slight movements paid off, finally bringing him to the portrait, taking a deep breath he waited until the first year's back was turned before leaping out, making a wild dash to get away, he faintly heard yells of 'WHERE'D IT GO!' as he turned the corner racing towards the stair room. Even with that catastrophe, however, the sandy-haired boy still managed to be pleased with himself, for just one reason that was echoing through his mind:
Seamus Finnigan, shadow walker.
He grinned.
Now that, was so cool.
oOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo
As he waited anxiously for the others to arrive, Terry restrained the urge to kick something, here he was again, back under the stairs, hoping that the companions from before would show! But he had to talk to them! This was a matter of dire importance, almost as much as the 'Luna/Terry incident' from that morning.
The door opened to admit a flushed Draco Malfoy.
"This had better be important Boot!" he spat angrily, "Do you know what I had to do to get Greengrass off my tail, I had bribe Blaise, BLAISE! I am now in debt to the only person in this school, likely to organize a coo!"
"When and where!" came the excited tones of Luna as she too entered the room, followed almost immediately by…a shadow?
"Uhh…" started Malfoy, "what the hell is that!"
"Hmm?" hummed Luna distractedly, before turning o find the shadow, "Oh hello, welcome to earth!" she greeted cheerily.
"Well thanks," the shadow replied, with a familiar Irish accent, it muttered a finite incantatem, and the fog lifted to reveal a grinning Seamus, "but I've always felt welcome here."
Draco looked mock confused at that comment, "Now that can't be true!"
The Gryffindor's grin vanished as he scowled and sat on the floor, looking determinedly away form the Slytherin.
"A shadow charm," Terry muttered quietly, "very impressive," he shook himself out of his dais and turned back to Malfoy, "You cheated!"
The blond looked perplexed, "Actually for once, I didn't"
"You used your powers!" the Ravenclaw boy yelled outraged.
Draco just smirked infuriatingly, "First of all Boot, I only used them to stop my brain from imploding, the energy was just a bonus, and second of all, Hooch has made me read the rules and regulations for quidditch backwards and forwards and NOWHERE does it state that 'it is strictly forbidden for any player to use powers of an empathical nature to siphon excitement from spectators, even if it is to prevent the inwards explosion of their skull.'"
"Yes" Terry seethed, "but there is a rule about non –humans not being allowed to play!"
The room got deathly quite silent.
From the looks of him, Draco was just barely managing to keep down a flame of anger or worse.
"I, am human," he bit out, in a tone that left no room for argument, before standing and stomping angrily to the door, before throwing back over his shoulder "and I DIDN'T CHEAT!"
Seamus stared stunned after him while Luna sneered uncharacteristically at Terry.
"You should NOT have said that." she snapped, all traces of her usual self gone as she fled the room.
For a long while he and Seamus just sat there in silence, before the Gryffindor grew restless.
"Well for what its worth," he stood and quickly re-cast the shadow charm, "I thought you had a good point." He nodded sagely before heading back to Gryffindor tower.
And with that one complement, Terry decided it was the cruelest thing he had ever said.
AN-R&R, good or bad