Hey every one, sorry laptop broke again, I am in the middle of class when I post this so I can not be long but would like to say thank you to every one who reviewed and who has put me on their story alert and who are following this story, thank you!
Also been doing some thinking and I know how this is going to end now, just not when!
This is not mine, just the story!
Chapter Twentyeight
Harry looked around the room and smiled to him self; every thing seemed to be going as planned. There were twenty other boys crowned in the room with him and they were all here for the same reason; to get back at the girls who had hurt them so badly in the past. While Blaise, Ron and him self were not victims of the girls there was still the pain of two lost friendships that kept them there.
It had taken them some time but they had managed to track down some of the girl's old victims and every one of them seemed as unlikely as the next: Neville, Seamus, Terry Ernis, Anthony, Michael, Colin, Fred, George, Dean, Lee, Crab, Goyle, Dennis, Justin, Theo and even Zacharious. Age and house seemed to mean nothing to the girls so they were not going to let in get in their way as well, their hate for one another had been placed there because of the houses that they were in but this seemed more personal for all of them.
They had a mission and the memories from the past were enough to bring all of them together.
In the prefects bathroom.
Granted, it was not the best hiding place for any kind of secret meeting but when Ron and himself had followed Hermione all that time ago Harry had had a horrible feeling that The Room of Requirement was already being used by some one else. Many of the girls who were against them were members of the DA so the chances of them using the room was too high for Harry liking. In fact if they had been using the room then the chances were that they had known about it all along and kept quite about the whole thing.
"Alright everyone, gather round please!" Harry called across the room from his place next to the skin with Ron, Blaise and Draco standing by his side. "You all know why we are here" he stated a moment later "We have a problem and it needs to be put right. The girls have no idea what they getting into and it is about time that we showed them"
There was aloud round of applause and a few people yelled out their agreement of his words; their smiles were enough to give him courage to carry on.
"Here is what we have to do. Fred and George we are going to need enough extendable ears and invisible rings for every one here and I will pay you back later, do you have enough?"
"Course Harry!" Fred said as he turned to his twin with a smile.
"And because it's for such a good course" George added "We will give them to you for free!"
"Brilliant, Colin and Dean" Harry said as he turned to the two younger boys in the room who looked like Christmas had come early "I am going to need you to go to the library and find out every thing that you can about the room of requirement on the seventh floor, look in all of the books about Hogwarts. If there is any way to get into the door or even make another door with out the people in the room knowing then I want to know about it"
The two boys nodded and smiled before putting on their best brave faces, like they had just been asked to save the world. Harry found himself worrying for a second; the last thing that he was going to need would be for them to draw attention to themselves.
"Crab and Goyle, I am going to need you to stand guard at the Slytherin common room, if Pansy comes out of there then I am going to need you to follow her and see where she goes. Dean and Seamus I am going to need you to do the same for Gryffindor common room for Hermione and Ginny. If you see any of the other girl's then just leave them be, it is these three girls that we need to keep our eyes out for, they are going to be our main targets in till we get more information, from the looks of things they seem to be the leaders of this whole thing"
Harry sighed and looked over at Ron, Blaise and Draco who all nodded in turn, they had made the chose together and they were going to do it together.
"We are to start at the top and these three girls are going down"
Every one nodded and looked at one another, the girls had been doing this for many years but if they managed to catch them off guard then they knew that they were going to have the upper hand on them this time.
"Now if there is any body that had nothing to do then I am going to need you to go back to your common rooms and watch out for any of the girls, if you see any thing that you think would help then please let us know about it"
Harry picked up his bag and checked his watch as he called out to every one:
"Alright guys, set out and get to work, its nearly ten so we have two hours before we move out, we'll meet back here at half eleven, finalise every thing that and then leave at ten too"
"And remember" Rona added as every one was leaving the room "Let us know any thing and every thing that you think could help us"
One by one the boys filed out of the room and the four boys were left on their own once again, the suddenly disappearance of so many people seemed to leave an awkward silence and once if had gone on for long enough Blaise decided to break the silence.
"So" he muttered as he pulled his own school bag over his shoulder "we are really going to do this?"
"Its for the best" Draco said and his friend suddenly turned to him.
"Is it really? I mean do you not think that there is some thing wrong here? These are just girls, one of whom I used to care for and that is not just going to change because…because she mad a mistake, is it Draco?"
Draco stepped forward with a scowl on his face which made Harry and Ron step back from the fight that seemed to be waiting to happen.
"Are you trying to say that I don't care for Pansy?"
Blaise raised his eyebrows at his friends temper before he smirked slightly and leaned closer to Draco before he stated:
"Oh no, I would never say such a thing, I know that you care for Pansy but I also happen to understand that you care for Granger as well, no don't interrupt" Blaise added as Draco opened his mouth tom comment "you know just as well as the three of us that you…love her in some way…and if that's the case then...um"
Blaise looked at the floor and sighed, he closed his eyes and swallowed loudly, like what he was about to say was going to bring his pain. After a long moment he finally looked up and caught Draco's gaze before saying loud and clearly:
"The I except your feelings for her and will stand by you and Granger the whole way threw your relationship…you know…if you…change your mind or some thing"
Draco's expression had not changed an inch at his friend's words; he turned to see Harry and Ron looking at him with thoughtful expressions of their faces, if only they understood how much he was hurting, the emotions and feelings that no Malfoy would ever show for some one like her or for any one.
Draco suddenly turned and picked up his bag as he made his way to the door.
"Where are you going?" Rob called after his new found friend.
"The plan goes ahead as planned…but right now I have some unfinished business"
With out another world to any one he was gone and the three remaining boys packed their belongings together and left the room themselves, each one having the same plan in their minds.
All of the boys had left the room but there was still one more person in their who had arrived some time before them, some one who knew all of their plan with out meaning to and who's mind and heart was racing faster then they had ever had.
Lavender Brown picked up her town with shaking hand and placed it calmly in her bag as she thought about every thing that she had just heard.
They made it sound like they were going out to some kind of war. After collecting her items she made her way out of the room and ran to the common room to find Hermione or Ginny. If was two hours after she should have been back but she did not care and if any one tried to stop her then she personally felt bad for them.
Pansy and Millcent walked threw the halls at a fast pace as they tried to get to the room of requirement, the meeting was meant to start in just under two hours but it had been pushed forward once Hermione had owled her about some kind of emergency.
Pansy,
Meeting in the room of Requirement right now, some thing has come up.
Hermione
The letter had been rushed and held no details but the word "emergency" was enough to have both of the girls worried about their friends. With a sense of determination in each of their steps the two girls soon found themselves out side the door. Pansy stepped into the room and stopped dead so fast that Millcent waked into her back, every one else was already there, every one of them seemed to be in their own little groups, some of the girls looked scared while others just looked like they were going to cry and it seemed like some of them already were.
"Pansy!" some one called and they all fell silent as Hermione reached her friend in two steps, took a deep breath and said:
"It would seem that we have a slight problem"
Lavender laughed openly as she walked away from her own group and joined them at the front of the room, it seemed like every one was watching their every move to see what was going to happen.
"I am sorry Hermione but I think a slight problem is some thing of an understatement here" Lavenders turned to Pansy and simply said "The boys know every thing"
It took a second for the words to sink in before Pansy managed to speak:
"Who?" But from the look on their faces she already knew the answer, things always got worse before they got any better.
"Blaise, Draco, Ron and Harry seem to be leading the whole thing but there is a lot more of them"
Pansy could feel her world spinning as she whispered:
"How many more?"
"I'm not sure, I was hidden when every thing happened but from what I heard I think that they have a lot more people then ourselves, I would have to say about twenty, maybe even more if all of the different voices are any thing to go by"
They was a silence in the room before Cho stepped forward and asked:
"Is this a war?"
Another silence filled the room and all of the girls looked around at one another, all of the silently begging their friends to say some thing, hoping that some one would jump out of them and say that it is all a bad dream. Every thing that they had worked for had been for nothing-
"Yes, this is a war" Hermione called out to every one "This is just another mission and it is one that we are going to fight, this is one that we are going to win"
She thought for a second before looking at Pansy and Ginny, when the two girls did not step forward she took change.
"Hannah, Cho and Padma I need you to look threw the new members books, look up any one who still goes here and who has ever been considered as a new member, when you have the list find all of them right away, fill them in on what's happened and bring them back here if they want to help"
The three girls nodded and each one of them had a book open in front of them within seconds, Hermione soon turned to the other girls and spoke to them again.
"Lavender, Kate and Alicia I am going to need you to look in the old membership books, I need all of the ones from now till forty-five years ago looked over, if you find any one useful like a teacher or some one who lives near by then I need to know about it"
They all nodded and hurried off
"Every one else follow my lead" she called as she put her bag over her shoulder and walked to the door.
"Hermione" Ginny said as she and the rest of the girls followed her "What are we doing?"
"Evening out the numbers of course, the list should be done soon but there are other things that we have to do in the mean time. The people that we ask for help may not be perfect but we are running out of time here"
"And then what happens?"
Hermione smiled sadly at her friends.
"And then the battle of the sexes begins"
"Miss Hermione!" Dobby squeaked as he spotter Hermione and the other girls enter the kitchen "Is you being here in need of food Miss Hermione?"
Hermione smiled as another unlikely friend greeted her warmly, Dobby was considered odd for an house elf but Hermione thought that he was great, he worked hard like the others did but he was strong enough to ask for pay unlike the others, he asked for money that he had every right to.
"No thank you, but there is some thing that you could do for me"
"Any thing for you Miss Hermione!"
"Oh Dobby how many times must I ask you to call me Hermione?"
"I am sorry Miss but you are far greater then most people Miss, for you is being best friend of Harry Potter Miss!"
Hermione looked at Dobby and frowned, she had forgotten how much he liked Harry and considering what she was about to ask him it could cause some problems with their plans.
"Um…thank you Dobby. I seem to have a slight problem that I was hoping you could help me with, you see some boys are going around and doing bad things and girls are getting hurt Dobby"
Dobby's eyes widely slightly as he took a step closer and asked:
"Are you getting hurt Miss Hermione?"
Hermione swallowed as tried to push the thought of Draco out of her head, he was the one getting hurt but what was one lie to help her friends going to matter?
"Yes Dobby, I am and I need your help to make it stop"
"Can you not ask Harry Potter Miss Hermione, he is always willing to help people, he did help Dobby when no one else would Miss"
"Yes I could but he is one of the boys Dobby"
Dobby took a step back and looked at her threw horror filled eyes.
"Miss wants Dobby top go against Harry Potter? Dobby can not be doing it Miss" He made Dobby a free elf Miss!"
"Yes I know Dobby" Hermione pleaded "But you have to understand that…" Suddenly Hermione remembered where Dobby had come from and an idea started to form in her mind "But Dobby if you do not do this for us then Draco Malfoy would have gotten away with it!"
There was a small silence before the elf asked:
"You will be working against Mr. Malfoy?"
Hermione nodded slowly and Dobby seemed to be fighting against himself before he finally said:
"What can Dobby do for Miss?"
The girls behind Hermione smiled and high fived each other as Hermione let out a breath that she did not know she had been holding, while it seemed to be going well she was still going to have to be careful.
"Dobby you can move threw school grounds by magic right?"
"Yes Miss"
"Can you take other people with you?"
"Yes Miss"
"Good. Tonight I am going to need you to move some people for me. Can you do that?"
"Yes Miss"
Hermione smiled widely before asking the girls to take Dobby back to the room of requirement, she had other things that had to be done before midnight.
Draco had been walking for twenty minutes before he finally found her, she was on the fourth floor walking just ahead of him and from the spring in her step Draco could picture a smile was gracing her beautiful lips. Draco sighed to himself why did he have to have such nice thoughts for some one that he hated?
But for some reason he had found the need to speak with her before midnight, he had some questions that needed to be answered because not every thing she was doing made sense to him. Was this really what she wanted?
"Oi Granger!"
Draco watched as he whole body seemed to freeze from the sound of his voice and he was trying to decide if that was a good thing or a bad thing when she turned around to face him, if she had been smiling then she no longer was, instead her face looked indifferent and uncaring, there was no smile or frown to show her emotions and he could feel his mind spinning, for some reason he had wanted to see her smile.
"What do you want Malfoy?"
His usual smirk was placed on his face and he placed his hands in his pocket and shrugged.
"Oh you know, the normal things, for people to see that light and to finally get rid of people like you"
Something like hurt seemed to cross her face for a second before her shields were firmly back in place.
"Oh right, people like me, I take it that you mean mudbloods?" she spat at him in anger.
He laughed slightly and took another step closer to her, he had nothing to lose at this point but from the look on her face she could lose every thing, with every thing that had happened to him and all of the pain that he had been threw he could not help but feel some pleasure in the pain that she was going to have coming her way and yet…there were some other emotions there as well.
"No Granger, I mean people who think that it's alright to play with peoples emotions like you do"
"What? We never did that, we help-"
"Yourselves Granger"
"No, other girls who needed us to be there to-"
"To what? To get ride of all of the evil boys out there because the girls hate the face that they got dumped?"
"You don't know what you are talking about"
"As one of your victims I think that I bloody well do"
"You know nothing and I do not have time for this"
She turned to walk away and he took hold of her arm in determination, she was going listen to him, before he could react she panicked and reached for her wand, her sudden movement seemed to take him by surprise and he took two steps. A mistake on his park because within seconds she had her wand firmly pointed at him, her breathing was ragged but her wand was being held steady.
"Get away from me"
"Come on Granger, don't be silly, listen to me, this is me, Draco Malfoy giving you a chance here"
Hermione scoffed and held her wand higher in till it was level with his heart.
"Oh really? Well tell me Malfoy what would that include? A nothing chance with some one like you? Please I think that we both know the answer to that already"
Draco sighed and took step closer; it seemed that the wand did not bother him in the slightest.
"I am not talking about the relationship that you and I may or may not of had. I am talking about the chance to be the person that I know you want to be and not the one that you are turning into. You are teaching girls to go against boys for no reason and that is wrong! Look around Granger, we are not in the Stone Age, men and women have the same rights and you are going around acting like we are keeping you underground and we are not!"
Hermione swallowed and calmly and tried to keep her hand steady, she had a reason for acting like she did and he was not going to take that away from her, no one was.
"Its not about our rights, it's about out hearts"
Draco laughed and took yet another step closer.
"Oh really? Well then Granger what about you? Did I break your heart? Because I was under the impression that you broke mine"
"No mine Malfoy, you never broke mine" She had done that all on her own.
"Who's then?"
"Every girl that you ever dated. Every girl that you ever dumped because you ended up getting bored with them, you never think about how your actions effect the people that you leave behind, the ones that you never have a second thought about and just forget about"
"Hey! I am not the one in the wrong here Granger, with every girl that I dated I made it clear what I wanted and while they were no my arm they did not seem to have a problem with it. I never loved any of them and not once did I lead them to think some thing different. Think what you want Granger but don't you ever accuse me of mistreating girls"
He took one final step closer; grabbed hold of her wand threw it to the ground and pulled her closer to him with both of his hands before placing a hard and final kiss on her lips. He pulled away all too soon for both of them and looked down at her while she watched him with wide and glazed over eyes.
"I, Miss Granger, am a gentlemen" He released her and started to walk away, she wanted to stop him, she wanted to yell and scream and cry in till there was nothing left of him but at that moment, when she could have done some thing to make every thing stop, she was frozen.
He was about to turn a corner when he turned back to her and half raised him hand like he had forgotten some thing.
"Oh and Granger?"
"Y…yes?"
"I am not going to remain a gentleman for much longer"
And then, just like she had done once before Hermione Granger watched Draco Malfoy walk away from her once more.
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Haraldzidla xx
