Well, I am back. And I don't think an alert went out when Chapter 25 went up.. cause.. I got.. no reviews.. apart from one LAME ASS reviewer who said: this is shit!this is the worst kind of story this slash crap is the worst shit "people" could have comed up with!
I object to this because: A) If you don't like it, don't read it. Don't just tell me it's crap. I have MANY people who LIKE reading it. B) I am in fact a person.. not a "person". C) Grammar. People could have COME up with. Also space between shit!this. and D) I don't mind flames so much if they at least tell me my plot is crap or I make mistakes or whatever, cause I can deal with that, but there is no literary anything in that review. Go tell someone who CARES.
Yes. So that is my rant against that person. Humph. Now on with the story!
…Riyan…
The Great Hall was buzzing with chatter when Harry entered it the next morning. Whispers all around. They stopped when they saw him. Everyone stared. Harry frowned and hurried to the Gryffindor table. At once the students began talking again. Harry heard a snatch of a conversation from the Ravenclaw table behind him.
"..are secret lovers,"
"Yeah, that's what I heard.."
"Over the summer.."
Harry dropped his fork. Was that what he thought it was?
"But why? Why did.." The conversation stopped when Draco entered the hall. A feeling of dread filled Harry. Did they know? Were they really talking about him and Draco? How could they even know?
"Harry!" Colin Creevey tapped him on the shoulder. Harry turned. "Is it true? Is it? Really? Are you really going out wit Draco Malfoy?" A lead ball fell into Harry's stomach.
"What do you mean Colin?" Harry asked.
"The whole school is talking about it Harry! Gregory Goyle said he saw you two over the summer!" That goddamn Slytherin was going to die.
"Uh, Colin, I have to, uh, go to the bathroom," Harry said.
"But Harry! You didn't tell me if it was true or not!" Colin cried. Harry ignored him and walked out of the hall. He needed to talk to Draco. But there was no way he would be able to without anyone noticing. He slumped down against the wall outside the Great Hall, to the right of the doors, and buried his head in his arms. Why did he have to be famous?
………………..
Draco heard the rumour too. Daphne Greengrass was the one to ask him about his relationship with Harry. He pretended not to hear her, all the while plotting to get revenge on the oaf Goyle. He and Harry would have to discuss what to do. Either they could say, yes, they were having a relationship so fuck off, or no they weren't, but there was a reason for Goyle's story.
That boy was going down.
………………..
Blaise and Hermione walked down to breakfast together, pleasantly discussing the fine art of Arithmancy. They had been in that class together for years, but never really spoken. As it turned out they both shared a passion for the subject. Hermione was so into the conversation that she almost didn't notice Harry sitting against the wall. However, Blaise, who was naturally a very observant boy, nudged her and pointed.
Immediately Hermione hurried over to him. Blaise stood to wait for her, but she motioned for him to go to breakfast. He shrugged and ambled into the Great Hall. Hermione knelt down next to Harry. Harry raised his head and looked at her. He was frowning.
"What's wrong Harry?" she asked, trying to keep the faint note of hysteria out of her voice.
"Nothing, just tired. And well, there's a rumour about me. Started by Goyle. And I don't know what to do about it. But don't worry about me, 'Mione. I'll be fine. Go have breakfast."
She frowned, but nodded and stood up. She took one last look at him, small and alone, before entering the hall. She soon found out what the rumour was..
………………………..
"Hey Harry!" Seamus had come to check on him. "Stop sulking mate. It will get sorted out."
"Mmmyeah."
"Oh come on, Har. Tell you what. Tonight we can watch a very exciting, student made film. It's called Snape's on a Plane. It's very funny. It's a spoof of that Muggle Movie Snakes on a Plane. So Snape tries to kill everyone instead of the Snakes.. How about it Har?"
"Uh, sure Shame. Why not?"
"Now get up and stop feeling sorry for yourself." Seamus held out his hand and helped Harry to his feet. "And come back to breakfast. You need to get your schedule. Plus, I think Dumbledore wants to make an announcement."
Harry shrugged and followed Seamus into the hall again, ignoring the stares he received. Professor McGonagall hurried over and handed Harry his timetable, muttering under her breath about late students.
"Ahem," the hall fell silent as Dumbledore stood and cleared his throat. "To start the term off gaily, we shall be holding a small light-hearted competition." Chatter broke out among the students. "QUIET! Yes, as I was saying, a competition. There will be several categories for this competition. These include: Best Looking Male, Best Looking Female, Most Likely to Be Picked for Major League Quidditch, etc. etc. The lists will go up on the house notice boards this afternoon so that you can start thinking about who you want to vote for. Sadly you can only vote for the top two years because they're the people that most people in the school know. Sorry younger years.
"Anyhow, later in the week your teachers will hand out your voting sheets with the categories on them. All you have to do is fill them out and hand them in. However you do not hand them in to your teachers, hand them in to the Sorting Hat who will tally all the votes. The Sorting Hat will reside in the Great Hall until next Friday when the competition ends.
"Also lessons today are cancelled due to the fact that a member of the faculty is not here yet and we could not get a replacement. We could have just had the DADA lessons cancelled, but, we thought we'd give you a treat. That is all."
The students immediately broke out into chatter again.
"Wow Har! A competition! How exciting!" Seamus cried. Harry rolled his eyes. "You have to win something. Or else.. it will be.. blasphemy! Almost.." Harry laughed but gave Seamus a look as if to say NO. "That's it! I know what we can do to secure you at least one win!"
"Uh oh. What are you going to do Seamus?" Harry asked, sternly.
"I'm not telling you!" And with that Seamus ran out of the Great Hall laughing. Harry sighed and shook his head. Seamus was as uncontrollable as ever. Being made a prefect didn't seem to phase him at all.
……………………
Draco scowled at everyone around him. This was NOT a good day. Stupid rumour. Stupid contest. Goyle was going down. And Dumbledore.. well.. that man was a bit cracked. He could get away with this.
He had to talk to Harry about what they were going to do about this rumour. Would they come out? Still keep it a secret? He sighed. He couldn't just go to the Gryffindor table and talk to him. That would be way too obvious. Draco Malfoy was a man of subtlety. So instead he took some parchment out of his bag, scribbled Room of Requirement 10:30. Be there. and put it in his pocket to subtly give it to Harry later.
Draco did in fact manage this feat of subtlety when he casually walked past Harry as they passed on the way out of the Great Hall.
………………………
Harry glanced down at the note Draco had slipped into his hand. Room of Requirement 10:30. Be there. He assumed this was to talk about the rumour. And perhaps the competition! Harry liked the idea. It was a nice way to start off the term. He was eager to find out what the categories were. He was not however looking forward to seeing why Seamus had run off at breakfast. Seamus wanted Harry to win. And that usually spelt trouble.
Sure enough, when he entered the common room Seamus bounded down the stairs wearing a Vote for Potter shirt.
"Do you like it, Har?" Seamus asked. "I got the idea from a Muggle Movie. Their shirts said Vote for Pedro though. So I changed it." He grinned happily. Harry had to admit, they were actually quite cool. "I thought you'd approve." Harry smiled.
"Anyhow, I have to go to the Library," he said, glancing at his watch.
"But Har, we've just gotten back. And there are no lessons!" Seamus protested.
"Draco," Harry mouthed.
"Oh! Right! Got you. Have fun!" Seamus bounded away to show some more people his shirt.
……………………………….
Draco was on time to the Room of Requirement. Harry, of course, was late.
"You're late," Draco said as Harry entered.
"Whatever."
"We need to discuss this rumour and what we're going to do about it," Draco said.
"I agree."
"We have two options: Deny it, or come out."
"I think we should deny it."
"What?" Draco was confused. Wouldn't it just be easier to say that it was true?
"And I have a reason. Because if we tell the school our relationship was a ploy for your dad, they'll leave it be and won't bother us if we want to meet up. They'll think it's still all for show." Harry looked pleased with himself.
"No they won't." Harry frowned.
"Okay, so we won't kiss or anything. But we can say we became friends, then we can at least talk to each other. And then we explain the fake fight on the train and stuff. It will work. Trust me."
"Okay, but what if this gets back to my dad?" Draco asked.
"Damn. Well, the way I see it, the only way this will is through Goyle, right? So we can silence him. Leave that to me." An unusual glint came into Harry's eyes. Draco shivered.
"Okay, and what about the Dark Mark? What if that comes out too?"
"Just leave it to me. I have a plan."
"Is it better than the one that got me it?" Harry flushed in shame.
"Yeah."
"Good." Harry leaned in and kissed Draco, but pulled away quickly.
"My scar," he said.
"It's okay. We'll get it sorted out soon." Harry smiled and nodded.
"Yeah," Harry agreed. Harry's scar was really beginning to annoy him. He didn't know what brought on the pain. It would come suddenly. Sometimes he could touch Draco, sometimes he couldn't. He sighed. He made a mental note to ask Hermione about it tomorrow. "Anyhow, I should get back."
"Yeah, me too."
They said their goodbyes and hurried back to their respective common rooms, Harry to Gryffindor Tower and Draco to the Slytherin Dungeon.
……………………………….
The list was up when Harry arrived back at the Tower. It hung on the notice board and a large gaggle of students was crowded around it. Harry ambled over to it and looked over tops of the small peoples' heads.
Best Looking Male
Best Looking Female
Cutest Couple
Coolest Prefect
Best Fashion Sense
Smartest Person
Funniest Person
Most Studious
Best Dancer
Most Artistically Gifted
Most Likely to Be Picked for Major League Quidditch
Most Likely to Succeed
Most Inspirational
Most Eager
Most Mischievous
Most Likely to Entertain
Most Likely to Be Minister For Magic
Most Likely to Have a Mental Breakdown
Most Metrosexual
Gayest Boy
Funniest Drunk
Funniest Dancer
Most Likely to Start a Band
Most Likely to be Found Procrastinating
Most Likely to be a Model
Most Likely to Be Famous
Most Likely to Be a Philosophical Genius
Most Likely to Discover New Things
Sexiest Boy
Sexiest Girl
Most Likely to Own a Town
Most "Gangsta"
Most "Street"
Most Adorable Boy
Most Adorable Girl
Most Likely to End Up With Lots of Kids
Most Likely Become a Muggle Superstar
Person You Would Most Like to Put in a Box and Keep as a Pet
Person You Would Most Like to Hug
Most Likely to Die in a Highly Exciting Way
Most Likely to End Up Working in the Ministry at a Boring Desk Job
Most Likely to Bring Sexy Back
Most Likely to Sing Bon Jovi Just Because (and to those wizards who don't know of Bon Jovi.. SHAME on you. Shame..)
Most Likely to Be the Next David Attenborough (That muggle bloke who makes TV shows about animals and nature)
Most Likely to Accidentally Hassel the Hoff (Note to wizards: You DON'T Hassel the Hoff, David Hasselhoff for those fools who don't know)
Harry laughed at a few of them and started thinking about who he should vote for. All the small people in front of him were debating anxiously already.
"Well, Harry's obviously going to die in a highly exciting way.. I mean.. He's Harry Potter!" one of them said shrilly to his friend.
"I sure hope I don't," Harry said. The First Year in question turned around and squeaked. Harry winked. "It's okay." The First Year smiled half heartedly and hurried away, followed by its friends. Harry grinned and began copying down the categories on a sheet of paper.
………………………..
Meanwhile Ron was sitting alone in the dorm room with the curtains of his four poster bed drawn. He was planning to sleep and make up for some of the sleep he didn't have during the night. He lay down and stared at the curtain. Hermione's face swum before his eyes, but then vanished only to be replaced by glimpses of the faces of other girls. He sighed and closed them. He soon drifted into a dreamless sleep.
……………………………
Hermione stared at the notice board on the wall of hers and Blaise's room. What was Dumbledore on? The list was insane! It started out okay, but then.. the end.. Most Likely to Sing Bon Jovi Just Because? What was this madness? She sighed. Blaise thought it was rather funny. She did too, she just thought some of it was a bit odd for the Headmaster to have thought up. Especially the David Hasselhoff one!
"Who are you going to vote for?" Blaise asked.
"For which category? There are loads!"
"I dunno. Most Likely to be Found Procrastinating.."
"Ron," Hermione answered at once. Blaise grinned. "What about you?" she asked.
"Yeah, Ron sounds good." Hermione laughed. This competition was going to be amusing. She thought it was a good idea overall. It would bring up the school spirit and sense of community.
"Hey," Blaise said suddenly, interrupting her thoughts about the competition. "What do you think of this Harry and Draco rumour?"
"Hmm. I don't know what to think of it. It's so unlike Harry, but then, Harry is rather unpredictable.. He seems upset by the rumour though. That's why he was sitting outside the hall earlier today."
"Figures. Draco was furious. Goyle better watch himself."
"Mm, silly boy."
"He should probably win: Most Likely to Die in a Highly Exciting Way: At the hands of Draco Malfoy," Blaise joked. Hermione laughed.
"Maybe," she said. "And maybe you should win Person You Would Most Like to Put in a Box and Keep as a Pet."
"You want to put me in a box and keep me as a pet?" Blaise asked, slightly outraged.
"Yes!" Hermione laughed. Blaise scowled and stuck his tongue out at her. Hermione smiled. "Aww, you're so adorable when you're angry!" Blaise threw a pillow at her.
…………………………………….
Seamus ran around the castle wearing his new shirt. His aim was to get as many people wearing them as possible. He was planning on selling them. This was just the advertising part. He only had fifty, so they were limited edition. This would make them in demand and cool. Or at least, he hoped it would. Not that he was using them to make money, he was just exploiting the fact that people would want them. Sometimes he really thought he should have been a Slytherin.
Anyhow. That is all for this update! Hope you all enjoyed it! Also I want to add a correction here. More people did review Chapter 25 this morning.. Because I think the alert just went out.. hmmm.. anyhow. Thanks to all who did!
Also I hope you like my categories! It would be helpful (and maybe fun, who knows!) if you gave me ideas as to who could win some of them :D Yeah. Anyhow. See you all next time! Sorry this took a while! No reviews.. No inspiration.. :(
…Riyan…
PS I bet you're all wondering who the new DADA teacher is! ;)