Disclaimer: As usual, I don't anything other than this fanfic and OC. Everything else belongs to J.K. Rowling. No copyright intended!
Ch. 10
The Society For The Promotion Of Elfish Welfare
It was Saturday the 19th, and the first task was only a few days away. Harry continued looking for different spells to use against a dragon. He was grateful that Dobby found out about the dragons and told the other house elves, as well as himself. It was an hour after breakfast when Harry ran into Neville, accompanied by Daphne. Tori, Tracey and Cynthia were also there, and upon spotting Harry, they couldn't help but smile, especially Tori.
"Hi Harry," said Tori, smiling at him. "How's your morning going?"
"Good so far," said Harry, smiling at Tori in return. "As long as Ronald, Ginevra and Granger don't do anything to ruin it, it'll make it even better."
"Yeah, those three are losing popularity more and more with each passing day," said Tori. "Keeping an eye on the weaselette in some classes isn't easy, but it was worth it."
"She even asked me and Tori why we keep staring at her," said Cynthia. "And yet, the weaselette was being rude. We were in potions class that time, and Professor Snape gave the weaselette a weeks worth of detention for it."
"How many points did he take?" asked Harry.
"None, as far we could tell," said Tori. "After class, he asked me and Cynthia why we were keeping an eye on the weaselette, so we told him that it was to make sure she didn't try anything suspicious on you."
"That surprised Professor Snape," said Cynthia. "He didn't press the issue, though. Our guess is that he doesn't want to be seen as being friendly to any non Slytherin students."
"Could be," said Harry. "Perhaps there's a reason for..."
"There you are, Astoria!" said an all-too-familiar voice.
This made the group gulp as they turned around and saw Draco. Tori's stomach started doing flip-flops in fear. Draco had that grin on his face, the one she despised above all else.
"Now why are you still hanging around with the likes of Potter and Longbottom?" Draco demanded.
"I enjoy their company," said Tori. "It's not your..."
"Actually, it is my business," Draco claimed. "As Slytherins, we're not supposed to hang around with the Gryffindor lions."
"Only idiots like you think so, ferret," said Tori. "The house rivalry is just plain stupid."
"Now, now, Astoria," said Draco. "Is that any way to talk to your future husband?"
Tori refused to answer that, not wanting to risk letting Draco know ahead of time, that he had sacrificed the marriage contract to Harry several years earlier.
"Now, once I check for any 'contraband' you could be hiding," said Draco with a smug grin. "You and I will head back to the Slytherin common room, so you can prepare for your future as the next Lady Malfoy."
"What kind of contraband are you insinuating?" asked Tori.
"Oh, something like loyalty or persuasion potions," Draco assumed. "Seeing that Potter is forcing you to take either or both."
"Harry wouldn't do anything like that!" said Tori, outraged.
"I'll be the judge of that." Draco claimed.
Then he did something that angered not only Harry and Neville, but also Daphne, Tracey and Cynthia. Draco stuck a hand down Tori's shirt, assuming she was 'hiding the contraband' there. Tori was expecting that inwardly, but she didn't show it. Harry, Neville, Daphne, Tracey and Cynthia were wondering why Tori wasn't doing anything to stop Draco. The answer came when they heard something.
SNAP!
"YEEEEOOOOOWWWWWW!" screamed Draco as he pulled his hand out, revealing a mouse trap, with Draco's fingers caught in it. "OWWW, OWW, OWW, OWW!"
Draco tried shaking the mouse trap off, without any success. He tried to pry it off, but that didn't work, either. This was making Draco run around like he had something down his pants. The fingers on his right hand were swollen with pain, making him scream his head off while the students were laughing.
"Nice booby trap!" Harry told Tori, resulting in giggles.
"Why thank you, Harry," said Tori. "I overheard the ferret discussing that plan with Pansy and Flint, to do what he just did. So I took the right precautions and added a charm that had a hidden mouse trap should Draco do what he did. The mouse trap also can't be shaken off, nor can the bar be pried open. Draco will have to deal with the pain for fifteen minutes."
"Fifteen minutes?!" asked Harry in astonishment.
"Well, the ferret never wants to learn, so I've got to find ways to make him learn the hard way." stated Tori while smirking.
Harry, Neville, Tori, Daphne, Tracey and Cynthia started giggling like crazy as they watched Draco scream his head off, trying desperately to pry the mouse trap off of his fingers. Draco had no idea, yet that the fifteen minutes were going to seem like an eternity for him. Upon walking outside, they came across three of Harry's least favourite people, Ron, Hermione and Ginny. They had some sort of badges in their hands.
"Harry, we've been looking for you," Ginny claimed, handing a badge to Harry. "Here, you'll love this."
"Spew?" asked Harry, inspecting the badge. "What is that, some group organization where you can freely toss your cookies?"
"No," said Hermione. "We're recruiting students to join the Society for the Promotion of Elfish Welfare!"
"And what good will that do, Granger?" asked Daphne.
"I'm glad you asked," said Hermione sarcastically, then resumed in a normal tone. "The organization has goals to give house elves better treatment, such as not using them as slaves, giving them holidays off and paying them for their work. But most of all, free them."
"Ha," sneered Tracey. "Like that'll work, Granger."
"No one asked you, snake." snapped Ron.
"House elves need to be bonded, Granger," stated Daphne. "It keeps their magic and strength to the best it can be. Freeing them will weaken them."
"Shut your stupid trap, Greengrass." snapped Hermione.
"Daphne is telling the truth, Granger," said Harry irritably. "I've bonded with several house elves and their strength and magic is working to their fullest. Before you make assumptions, why don't you try doing some research on the subject."
"Slavery is wrong, Harry," said Hermione, ignoring Harry's explanation. "I can't believe you fell into the world of corruption!"
"How could you, Harry?!" asked an outraged Ginny. "You keep letting those stupid snakes to influence your decisions."
"Kiss my arse, weaselette," said Tori, giving Ginny a glare. "You, the bookworm and the weasel are being the stupid ones."
Ginny saw anger and marched over to Tori. Once she was close enough, Ginny charged at Tori. But Tori grabbed the deranged red haired female by the front of her shirt and tossed her into a nearby water puddle. Once Ginny got up and cast the drying charm, she charged at Tori again. This time, Tori cast a stomach cramp charm on Ginny, resulting in her grasping her stomach.
"Ooooh," moaned Ginny as she fell to the ground and curled up like a cat. "Maaaaaaaaake iiiiiiiit goooooooo awaaaaaaayyyyyyyyyyyy!"
The stomach cramps got worse, forcing Ginny into squeezing her eyes shut tight. Ron couldn't believe that a 'filthy snake' would do that to his sister. He turned toward Harry, with a look of desperation on his face.
"Harry, make that stupid snake cancel that spell," Ron demanded. "This is why you should..."
Harry cast the soap suds charm on Ron, having seen Tori do that to Ginny the other day. Ron tried spitting the soap suds out, but it was no good because it would come back. Then he grabbed Ginny's hand to escort her to the hospital wing while Hermione fixed Harry with a dirty look, but turned her attention to Tori.
"Quit corrupting Harry, you wretched snake in the grass." snarled Hermione.
"Don't talk to my sister that way." snapped Daphne.
"Screw you, Greengrass," growled Hermione. "You're just as bad as your sister."
"If anyone is being bad, it's you, Granger," said Daphne angrily, just as Hermione got up, face to face with the ice queen. "Your so-called organization isn't going to produce any results. Your stupid choice there should be embarrassing, but you don't even notice that."
Hermione got even more angry and foolishly smacked Daphne, hard across the face, making her stagger some. Then Hermione turned around and ran, with Daphne (who quickly recovered) pursuing the insufferable know-it-all relentlessly.
"Oh, you're dead, you are so dead, Granger," shouted Daphne. "Come back here!"
The passing students laughed as they watched the supposedly brightest witch since Rowena Ravenclaw cowardly running away from Daphne, who was determined to teach Hermione a lesson. The students who witnessed Hermione smack Daphne (including Harry, Neville, Tori, Tracey and Cynthia) just ran after them, so they could continue to watch Hermione run away from Daphne, like a wimp. Hermione and Daphne ran across the bridge leading to Hagrid's hut and kept on going, to the point where they made it to a hill in the distance. Hermione and Daphne now looked like mice from the distance they were from the other students. Soon, Hermione and Daphne disappeared behind the hill, but that didn't stop the students laughing at Hermione's predicament.
"I do wonder what Daphne is bound to do to Granger," said Harry. "But, something tells me that it won't be pretty."
"Pretty much," said Tori. "The bookworm underestimated Daphne big time."
"Ever since first year, they've been fierce rivals in academics," said Tracey. "Granger keeps trying to humble Daphne, but it never works out. In many subjects where Granger is in first place in the finals scores, Daphne is in second place. The only time they get joint first is in potions."
"Such a shame she can't humble Daph." said Tori in mock pity.
"Yeah, that's too bad." said Harry, also in mock pity.
"She just had to let her belief in superiority get to her," said Neville. "Another reason Hermione isn't popular."
"And running away from Daph like a fraidy-cat will just make it worse," said Cynthia. "She shouldn't have tried smacking Daphne in the first place."
(Line break)
Meanwhile, in Dumbledore's office, Ron and Ginny were having another discussion with their headmaster, who was once more reminding the youngest Weasleys to steer Harry away from everybody else.
"Where's Miss Granger?" asked Albus.
"I don't know," said Ron. "She could be anywhere."
"Hopefully she taught those Slytherins and Neville not to go near Harry," said Ginny. "Especially that Astoria, who keeps trying to trick my Harry into avoiding me."
"The plan must succeed at all costs," said Albus. "We can't have Harry associating with anybody other than yourselves and Miss Granger."
"Yes sir," said Ron. "We'll remind Hermione once we find her."
"Wherever she is, I hope she isn't too far." said Ginny.
All too soon, it was nearing lunchtime and the student body started heading for the Great Hall. On the way, Harry spotted Ron and Ginny escorting Hermione to the hospital wing. While Harry was stunned a bit, he felt no sympathy for Hermione since she got what she deserved. Hermione had a black eye, some facial bruises, and a broken wrist because Ginny was holding it in place. Once the three backstabbers were out of sight, Harry hurried to the Great Hall for lunch. Tori joined Harry at the Gryffindor table, believing that switching between Harry sitting at the Slytherin and Tori at the Gryffindor table would be fair.
"I saw Granger being escorted to the hospital wing on my way here," said Harry. "Luckily neither she, Ronald, nor Ginevra spotted me."
"That's good, their behaviour is very un-Gryffindor like," said Tori. "Daphne sure showed the bookworm what would happen to anybody who messed with her."
They were joined by Neville and, to the surprise of the other Gryffindor students, Daphne. Neville was laughing, which seemed to imply that Daphne told him about beating Hermione up. Harry and Tori were wondering if there was something going on between Neville and Daphne, but then they were interrupted rudely, by Pansy.
"Astoria, what are you doing at the lions' table?" barked Pansy.
"That ain't your concern, Pansy," Tori retorted. "Now, if you don't mind..."
"Actually, I do," snapped Pansy. "Draco isn't too happy with you, you know."
"It ain't my fault." said Tori.
"Oh really," sneered Pansy. "Then who's fault is it?"
"Draco's." Tori clarified.
"He told me about getting that trap snapped on his fingers." said Pansy.
"If he hadn't stuck his hand down my shirt, it wouldn't have happened." said Tori irritably.
The other Gryffindors were outraged at that revelation. They knew that Draco was an arrogant person, but they never realized, until now that he was worse than what they thought. That was another wake-up call for the other Gryffindors, making them deduce that there were some nice Slytherins after all.
"The ferret deserved that." said Daphne.
"Who asked you, Daphne?" barked Pansy.
At that moment, Ron and Ginny made it to the Great Hall for lunch. Hermione had to stay in the hospital wing, since the paste used to heal the bruises would take some time. Ginny couldn't believe that both Greengrass girls were at the Gryffindor table, so she went to confront Tori for 'weaning her Harry away.'
"Alright, you snake!" Ginny began demanding Tori. "How many stupid times must I tell you not to ensnare my Harry?"
"You're the one doing that," Tori retorted. "Now Harry and I are..."
Unexpectedly, the light went out. Then rumbling was felt once more and when the light came back on, there was a stage with lights shining on it between the house tables and the headmaster's podium. The stage had gold smoke at one end and silver smoke at the other end. When the gold smoke vanished, Ginny was shown wearing a long-sleeve gold metallic dance leotard. Likewise, the silver smoke dissipated and Pansy was shown wearing a silver metallic dance leotard, also long-sleeve. This was for Ginny and Pansy to represent their respective secondary house colours, which was also why Ginny and Pansy were wearing dance shoes, gold and silver respectively. Even Harry didn't expect this, he had no idea that Dobby, Ozzy and Iggy were keeping an eye out for any trouble involving him and Tori especially, though the male house elves were invisible, so nobody could detect them.
The teachers and staff were stunned to see what Ginny and Pansy were wearing while the students had their eyes widened. Then music started playing, with Ginny and Pansy finding themselves starting to dance to it, very badly. The muggleborns, muggle raised and some of the half-bloods knew that the song playing was called The Bitch Is Back by Elton John. Once the singing was heard, Ginny's and Pansy's horrible dancing got worse. Once the chorus began, the students (as well as the teachers and staff) saw the word 'bitch' pointing to Ginny and Pansy as the word 'bitch' was heard, red for Ginny and green for Pansy, to represent their respective primary house colours, right above their heads. This resulted in the students laughing while the teachers were flabbergasted to see such a word that was denouncing the two students dancing. Ginny and Pansy had no idea that the word 'bitch' was pointing to them. The students came to the conclusion that Ginny and Pansy were the 'best of friends' after all.
The whole thing repeated again, but when the outro began, Ginny and Pansy found themselves dancing in each others' arms, where they also took turns twirling. As the outro started fading (signalling the end of the song), Ginny and Pansy found themselves striking poses. Ginny had her left arm up and her right hand on her hip as her torso faced the centre of the stage. With Pansy, the positions were reversed, but her torso, too faced the centre of the stage, and both girls were forced to smile, to make it look like they were enjoying their performance. The students continued laughing while the teachers and staff were still shocked, they kept wondering what was going on.
Even when the song ended and the horrible dancing finished, Ginny and Pansy were still in their respective dance leotards. Their faces were bright-red in embarrassment and they were too petrified to even move, especially when some of the students declared that Ginny and Pansy were best friends, resulting in even more laughter. Pansy was the first to make a beeline for the door and eventually left the Great Hall. Once she came to, Ginny also made a dash towards the door and left the Great Hall as the laughter continued ringing in her ears. Ron couldn't believe what he saw, surely Ginny wouldn't associate with the snakes, so he left the Great Hall to look for his sister. Professor Dumbledore also got up and followed the youngest Weasleys. After lunch was over, everybody left the Great Hall to do what they planned to do. Harry went back to the Room of Requirement to continue looking for more spells for the first task and, at the same time, come up with more prank ideas.
To be continued!