Author's Note:

Thank you, once again, for reading my pathetic fanfiction(so far, Chapters 1-9). Wasn't Chapter 9 great? I like that chapter best.

Song: Green Day - Poprocks and Coke

Chapter 10. Poprocks and Coke

Skye stared at her wide eyed and blank. Then she squealed and the leaped into each others arms and Lisa jumped in surprise.

"YAY!"

"WHOO!"

"Geez! Now you want to join!" exclaimed Lisa, backed up against the railing.

"What's wrong with it?" asked Karen, still hugging Skye.

"Yeah, I mean, I've always wanted to join, especially since last year when the Gryffindor Quidditch team finally won! It used to look so hectic what with Slytherin always cheating us all the time. Like a battle of life and death," squirmed Skye.

"For reals?" sang Karen as she laid back against the bleachers in her t- shirt and jeans. Lisa was still leaning over the railing watching Jamie fly around looking for the snitch.

"Yeah, totally"
"Fuh shuh."

"What"
"Nothing. Austin thing. I think."

"Oh yeah, Austin. I miss Austin."

"Yeah, me, too."

"And fries, I miss a burger and fries."

"That, too. What is it about food?"

"Well, nutrients I think. Food makes people happy."

"So why do we miss a burger and fries and Austin"
"Because we're losers."

"Ah."

Lisa smiled to herself and continued to watch. Jamie was now just sitting around on his broom, glancing about. She thought about the thing he was wearing on his head and how out of place he looked on the field wearing it. None of the other players were wearing anything like it. And it was cold outside, but not that cold. It was a little funny. Like he was so sensitive to temperature or something.

"Do you think Jamie will teach us how to play?" Lisa heard Karen ask.

"He might. But then that would really make us seem like spies to that other guy. What's his name?" wondered Skye.

"Dunno. Never said."

"Hmn."

"But you're right. It will make Jamie look like a traitor if he teaches us. Hey, I know! Lets ask Harry!"

"Harry? Why would we ask him? He doesn't know how to play, does he?"

"Didn't you know! He's the star player of the house team! Well, no, not last year 'cause he got kicked off-"

"For what?"

"Oh, Malfoy was a brat and said something silly and arrogant, and Harry and Fred - you don't know him, he left last year - jumped him and beat him to a bloody pulp. It was great, you should've seen it, but they got expelled from the team. At least they won before they beat him up otherwise, the team might've lost the game."

"Huh."

There was a long silence behind Lisa, and it was comfortable. They were all too distracted now watching the warm up game, the beaters beat the bludgers, and the chasers dash from goal to goal, tossing the quaffle to each other. Suddenly, Jamie moved.

"There he goes!" Lisa suddenly stood up with excitement.

Jamie made a dive to the ground and didn't pull up until the last second. A bludger shot toward him, but Jamie managed to dodge it and head right into the Gryffindor bleachers with a violent crash.

"Holy -"

"JAMIE!" screamed Lisa. The game stopped and one of the chasers flew over to the bleachers. They waited in silent anticipation and Jamie came stumbling out of the bottom of the bleacher, clutching his head.

"We should go down there and see if he's alright!" Lisa was about to go to the stairs when Karen spoke up.

"No, wait, he's okay, see? He's waving at us!" Lisa turned back and looked down. True enough, Jamie was just getting back on his broom.

"HEY JAMIE, YOU OKAY!" called out Skye, louder than a normal girl should scream. A hurt looking blimp came flying slowly toward them. As soon as he came to him, they could clearly see a large rip in his face mask and a trickle of blood dripping from the corner of his right eyebrow to an inch beneath his eye on his cheek.

"Crap!" declared Lisa.

"Holy shit!" agreed Karen.

"Damn straight!" concurred Skye.

"Thanks, I appreciate the love," Jamie grinned. There was never a time, it seemed to Lisa, that Jamie did not stop smiling, even when he was hurt.

"We should patch that up, just in case," said Skye.

"Just in case of what?"

They all glanced over to the trap door of the staircase, and Cat's head was popped out. She was making her up to the surface, staring at them.

"Because otherwise Jamie will get a sunburn," and Skye looked at her differently. Lisa noticed, and she wondered what that look meant.

"Oh, yes, sunburn," Cat corrected herself. "Well, I brought some of my knitting needles and yarn, could we stitch it up with that…"

"Jamie, don't you have to go back to playing?" asked Karen.

"Oh, no, uh, Zach gave me a break," Jamie told her, still holding the two ripped end with one hand while balancing himself on his broom with the other.

"Zach?"

"Zacharias Smith, he's captain of the Quidditch team. He's the one who came to get me, earlier," Jamie explained.

"Okay, stay still, Jamie." Cat was ready with her needle and thread. She leaned over the railing and began to stich up the giant rip in his mask.

"Jamie, why don't you let her take it off, so she can stitch it easier?" asked Lisa.

"No, no, no, no, as soon as she's done, I'll head back into the game, anyway," Jamie excused himself.

It took longer than expected. Perhaps, it only seemed longer for everyone was watching her and no one was speaking. Finally someone broke the silence.

"Jamie, this is taking forever."

Harry was sitting in the common room working away at his Potions essay which he knew was a load of crap. He was writing dribble down, things he didn't even know but he didn't really care. Dumbledore had miraculously saved their butts again, as he usually did when Harry became deep in odd situations with a far fetched but clearly probable explanation. He and Karen received a more appropriate punishment for being out of the dormitories at night, forty points from Gryffindor each, and a week's worth of detention(another week of detention for Harry). So maybe Harry would have liked to get away with it with out any punishment, but he did consider it better than how Professor Snape would have handled it. He probably would be on the train back to the Dursleys by now.

Thinking about that now, Harry felt much better about sitting in the common room writing his Potions essay.

Just then, Harry heard the portrait hole slam, and in came walking, a very angry looking Ron in jeans and a long-sleeve t-shirt. As he marched right passed Harry, he wondered why he didn't see him and asked out of the blue.

"You okay"
Ron jumped at the sound of Harry's voice and whirled around. Harry could see clearly a big red imprint on his left cheek.

"Harry! When did you - I didn't realize you were here!" sighed Ron, grabbing his chest as if Harry had scared him. "People are saying you were expelled for um…" A blush came over Ron. "…for 'explicit activity.'"

"Well, I was, almost, if Dumbledore hadn't come to rescue me and Karen," explained Harry.

"So Karen is the crazy girl? Should've figured so…" Ron muttered the last bit, taking a seat in front of Harry across the table. "So did you get detention, then?"

"Yes"

"Yeah, me, too, just now for saying 'horny' in the library."

Harry stared at Ron.

"What on earth were you talking about to have gotten in trouble for that."

"Deer. We were talking about deer."

Draco was having a rather good day today.

He couldn't explain it, he was just so…happy.

"Draco? Are you listening?"

Draco glanced down at the pretty girl sitting beside him in the bottom of the broom closet. They had just gone through a long snog session, and he was feeling pretty good about it. Her head was resting on his chest, she was looking rather adorable.

"Hmn?"

"Just asked if you think Karen and Harry will get expelled," she told him. Draco was reminded of Harry Potter and his humiliation, and he realized his day was better than he thought.

"No, they'll probably get away with it," laughed Draco, quietly.

"Why do you think that? From the looks of it, not counting everything that Karen babbled about, Karen and Harry just came back from having sex some…place. Maybe this very broom closet!" sparked Cat. A smirk fell from Draco's face.

"Please don't say that."

"Creeps you out a little, doesn't it?" pondered Cat.

"Please don't say that again."

Cat giggled. She couldn't help it; it was funny how he squirmed. She leaned up and kissed his cheek.

"I don't get you," she confessed. Draco glanced at her from the corner of his eyes. He rose his eyebrows and shifted his legs.

"Oh yes, I'm very mysterious," said Draco laying it on thick. Cat smiled, not responding. She then got up, startling Draco.

"Where are you going?" he asked, a little too bitterly hurt that she looked like she was going to leave.

"C'mon, let's get out of this closet. Let's go to the Quidditch field. I have a friend on the Hufflepuff Quidditch team, and I was invited to come watch them practice," she explained. Now Draco was on his feet.

"No, let's stay," he told her, taking her hands.

"What's wrong with going?" she asked.

"What's wrong with staying?" he replied, shrugging. Now Cat's confused, hopeful look had changed from the turning of the wheels in her head into a untrustful, hurt look.

"So, that's it, huh?" asked Cat, her tone of voice sounding like salty water.

"That's what it?" wondered Draco. She yanked her hands out of his.

"You're hiding me? Is that it?" she accused him.

"What! NO!" he barked, which he probably shouldn't have considering they were not suppoed to be in a broom closet and people could probably hear him outside. Yet, Draco did not care so much.

"Then what is it!"

"It's - nothing, okay, I just want to stay in here, and…"

As soon as he cupped her face with his hands, Cat tore away.

"So is it my friends? My Hufflepuff friend?"

"Well, that's one thing, why hang out with that dolts you do? Those Gryffindor girls and the Ravenclaw!" exclaimed Draco. "But that's not - what I mean is -"

"Just because they're from one house, and I'm from another? I can't believe this! Is that all you ever see people? Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, Gryffindor, Slytherin? Is that really how you define our classmates!" demanded Cat.

"That IS how they are defined here!" he shouted. Cat looked so affronted she jostled the door knob, and when it didn't open, she picked up an empty bucket, and slammed down onit hard, knocking it off, when she clearly could have used her wand. She came stomping out of the broom closet and down the hallway. Draco dared not go after her.

Draco learned from his parents a long time ago that women, when angry, were meant to be left alone.

"Please don't say 'wiggling eyebrows', it's too funny," laughed Karen.

They were sitting in the bleachers watching Jamie and the rest of the team practice rolls. Time and time again, the lined up back to where they were last, fly a few feet before dropping and rolling. It was a repeated practice, that Lisa assumed, was just in case if they fell off their brooms or to dodge bludgers.
The girls were talking about some weird stories they read and so forth. Nothing of real importance.

"You know what I want to do? I wanna see Howl's Moving Castle," Lisa confessed.

"Really? Isn't that by the same guy who did Spirited Away?" perked up Skye.

"Hayao Miyazaki," answered Lisa and Karen caught on.

"You people and your anime," Cat sneered playfully. She was knitting away a scarf of Slytherin colors.

"Why are knitting a scarf? Didn't you get a Slytherin scarf, too?" asked Karen, peering at her work.

"Yeah….yeah, I did, I'm just knitting it for the hell of it," she explained.

"I know, why don't you knit a Hogwarts scarf?" sparked Karen, grinning brightly.

"Hogwarts sca-yeaaaaaaaaaah…" Skye understood. "That's a great idea. I mean, so like anyone from any house could wear it."

"Mmm, why don't you just do a rainbow scarf? And put purple in for Professor Dumbledore," added Lisa, looking back to the practice. They were now practicing diving techniques.

"Well, purple really isn't defined as theHeadmaster's color," spoke up Skye, looking back, too.

"I think he looks nice in purple. For a really old guy," mentioned Karen. Cat stopped knitting. She glanced at Skye.

"Skye, you've been here longer than all of us put together. What do you think of Slytherin?" asked Cat. Skye was startled by the questions. She glanced away, in every direction but at Cat.

"Oh you know….I hated them…" muttered Skye. Cat dropped her knitting tools, and her mouth fell open.

"You hated them!" demanded Cat.

"Well, what do you expect! Slytherin kept screwing up our keeper with these silly 'Weasley is our King' chants, and what, not only that, but their ancestor, Salazar Slytherin, purposefully put a monster in the school that like, petrified a whole tone of people, and they are such a bitter house with the whole anti-muggleborne thing they've got going on, which I don't even get since you're in Slytherin-"

"What? Muggleborne? What're you talking about!" demanded Cat, standing up. Skye stared at her.

"You don't know, do you?" realized Skye. Karen's hand shot into the air.

"OH! OH! I know! May I?" shrieked Karen. Skye gleefully assumed the role of teacher in her special Professor Snape voice.

"Tell me, Miss Hartbums, do you take pride in being an insufferable know it all! Well, I guess if you're pratically slobbering everywhere to answer, you have my sniveling permision!"

Karen gave an ungrateful glare at snickering Lisa and Skye.

"That's Hartholmes, beyotch."

Cat folded her arms over her chest

"Alright, already, Karen, talk!" ordered Comander-in-Chief Cat. Karen snapped back into Hermione-mode.

"Right! A muggle borne is a witch or wizard who is born from two non-magic parents," explained Karen. "So someone like me, generally. Although, you're not really a muggleborne, you're more of a halfblood 'cause your dad's a-"

"Wizard, right, I get it. So Slytherin has got some thing against mugglebornes?" asked Cat, not quite believing.

"Oh yeah. Majority, if not, everyone in the Slytherin house is a pureblood and in one way or another, related. See in the wizarding world, some wizards think they're better than others because they are 'pureblood' witches or wizards, coming from an all wizard family. So it confuses me how you got in, being halfblood," explained Skye. She sat down, now changed just a little.

"So wait, my house is mostly prejudiced against basically, my people?" Cat concluded from the series of explanations. Skye nodded. Cat groaned.

"Great. How genuinely great?"

"And you know what? Have you told that Malfoy guy? Maybe if you told him, he'd finally go away," thought Skye. Cat froze. Wait. Oh no, what if Malfoy found out? Would he really dump me? What! Wait a minute, I should dump him! But shit, we only just got together last night! But then again that was before I found out he was racist bastard! Oh…but he's so cute.

"Who's Malfoy?" wondered Karen. Cat looked at her, surprised.

"He's the guy who made fun of my drawing. Don't you remember?" asked Cat. Karen started at her for a long time.

"Oh yeaaaaaaaaaaah. Draco Malfoy. Right. Harry hates that guy."

"You and Harry, I swear. Next thing you know, you're gonna have a baby!" Skye stated bitterly.

"For the last time, we didn't do anything!" snapped Karen, to which no one really believed her.

"Hey, it could be worse," spoke up Lisa. They were all quiet thinking how it could be worse, but then Lisa finished.

"Harry could have the baby."

"What happened?" asked Harry, bewildered. "What did you say to get her so worked up to hit you!"

Harry was now on the edge of his seat leaning over the table. Ron had big red mark on his face where he had explained Hermione had hit him.

"I don't know, I just…"

"You didn't mention, Victor, did you?" asked Harry, knowing that always got her worked up. Ron's face flushed bright red from the source of his ears.

"Nooo," he growled. "I didn't mention him. All I asked about was whathappened to her hair?"

"What? What did happen to her hair?" asked Harry, curiously, wondering how hair could get Hermione upset.

"Well, she straightened it. Used some kind of spell, I think," presumed Ron, fiddling with a crease in the wooden table. Harry noticed the awkwardness, but he was more concerned why one of his best friends would suddenly change.

"Why would she do that?" asked Harry.

"That's what I wanted to know! I told her if she was doing it to get some guy's attention, she would best to leave it bushy, and that's when she just hit me in the face with one of her books! I swear, she is dangerous with those books…" muttered Ron. "'Cept now she's using them to hit people with."

Harry caught on.

"Wait, did she change her hair to get someone's attention?" asked Harry.

"I don't know," moped Ron. "Probably."

Harry thought about it.

"Ron, maybe it's -"

SLAM.

Both Ron and Harry looked up to see Hermione climbing out of the portrait hole. Her hair was no longer in the straight manner Ron had said it was, but in a tamed bushy state.

"Oh, Harry!" Her face lit up, but then she gave Ron an undeserved look of annoyance, not really addressing him. Ron returned it. She walked over.

"Are you alright? Pavrati and Lavender were talking about you;they said you and Karen were doing something…um, reproductive."

Harry's face reddened.

"Reproductive. Nice choice of words, Hermione," Harry said sarcastically.

"So it's true?" wondered Hermione, a look of worry and disbelief crossing her face. Harry sighed.

"No, it's not true," declared Harry, going back to his essay now. He didn't want to talk about it anymore.

Hermione noticed Ron was staring at her, mouth hanging open. She did a double take.

"…what?"

Ron blew up.

"WHAT HAPPENED TO YOUR HAIR!" demanded Ron. Harry jumped.

"I turned it back like you told me to!" snapped Hermione, just as infuriated. Harry rolled his eyes and went back to scribbling down useless explanations and examples.

"I didn't tell you that!"

"Yes, you did! You said I shouldn't change the way I look for some boy!"

"Yeah, I told you that, but I didn't tell you to change it!"

"I thought you hated it!"

"When did I say I hated it!"

There tone of voice started to fade.

"So you didn't hate it?"

"No, I thought it was…nice."

They were kind of quiet now, both not looking at each other.

"I gotta go," and with that Hermione was dashing up the steps to the Girls' Dormitory. Ron didn't watch her go. But after a while, he realized she was gone and sat down with a giant sigh. Harry glanced up at him.

"She wears me out."

Harry thought about it.

"All girls do."

Just then, there was another slam and in came rushing a very determined looking Karen. She jumped into Harry's lap with not so much as a "how do you do" and stated her purpose.

"Teach me Quidditch, Master Obiwan."