The Founding of Pigwarts III – Chaos Is Served
Chapter 50: Operation Cuckoo
Hermione had always considered her office of a comfortable size. It wasn't very large. On one side of it stood her table, the other was filled with bookshelves, and between them there was just enough space to walk up and down the room – sometimes she liked to walk and think, other times she marched and ranted. On those occasions, rarer now than before, when she had shared it with Daemon Gwynne, there had been ample room for both of them. However, it seemed that her comfy office had its limits – apparently it wasn't large enough for four people and one duck.
She had done the horrible thing and cancelled her own lessons for the day. Yes, both of them. She wondered if there was anyone in the castle who hadn't done so. Neville was kind-hearted enough to allow this, and Susan would probably follow his example. She doubted Terry would want to go anywhere near his students wearing that, whatever it was. There seemed to be only one professor she could count on never losing an opportunity to torture students with classwork, but she knew for sure that Millicent was not giving a lesson either. And that's because she was among those four people and a duck crowding her office.
So all the students were free for the day, free to wreak havoc as only they could, chaos à la Pigwarts. Her only consolation was that they couldn't cause more trouble than they already had. Probably. Hopefully.
"Tell me again why it's necessary to keep me a hostage here," Millicent growled. She was glaring, parts of her still covered in the persistent, really sticky goo, while other parts where completely uncovered in an indecent and provocative way. It was worse than the nightgown Daphne had worn at Ginny's wedding, and that was saying quite a lot. But Hermione was preoccupied with too many other things to disapprove of her unsuitable attire, and even Ron was too worried to stare at her the whole time.
"We have to decide what we're going to do," Hermione presently said.
Millicent snorted, "There's not much to do now. You heard the man. He's going to send a full inspection upon us. He's going to see to it that our licence gets revoked. And that will be the end of Pigwarts. Amusing enough as it lasted, but I'm not going to grieve when it's gone."
"You wish," Ginny said, throwing her a meaningful look. "No, you won't get out of it this easily. Listen, Hermione, there's nothing to worry about. Purple has no legal power to revoke the licence. Brown has, but he won't."
"How can you be so sure of it?" Hermione asked, her hopes already rising.
"Daphne knows him. She'll clear the matter up in no time."
"Quack! Quack!" said the duck. It sounded almost reassuring.
"You think she can?" Hermione wondered. It seemed almost believable. Daphne could do anything. If she knew Brown, she could go straight to him and clear the whole matter up in less than a minute. They had pleaded with Purple for half an hour, but it wouldn't matter, because his boss had all the power. If only Daphne could clear it all up…
"Where is she?" she asked, "She should do it right now. Today. As soon as possible."
"That… might be a problem," Ginny said, shrugging.
"What? Why?"
"I don't know where she is. I saw her in the morning, looking for her duck, but now that I found the duck, she has gone missing herself," Ginny frowned.
"Quack."
Ginny glared at the bird. Until Daphne appeared and took all the blame, she was going to blame the duck for everything. If it hadn't gone lost, Daphne would have come with her in the morning, Ginny could have made all sorts of fun of her, and she would have never gone missing. Bad duck!
"Quack."
"We better find her soon," Hermione said, shaking her head. She wanted to pace down the length of her room in worry, but all these people were now standing in the way.
"I can't believe how this could have happened," she despaired. "Is there no discipline in this school? A place of terror and chaos, that's what he said, and he's probably right, too. Look at what those students did to him!"
"Look at what those students did to me!" Millicent hissed. "And I'm probably the only one here who at least tries to control the students. Some of you are as bad as them, if not worse."
She had looked at Ginny while saying this, so the redhead had to retort,
"If this is a school of terror and chaos, then the terror is all your doing. Control the students? Hah. The right expression is traumatize them."
"And who can we thank for all the chaos?" Millie replied with a dark look, "Who encourages the students to be as bad as they can? Who sets them such a lovely example of inappropriate behaviour? Who's proud of being as childish and irresponsible as they can?"
"Yes, tell me, who is that?" Ginny growled, staring right back.
"We are not here to figure out who to blame," Hermione said, placating, "Merlin knows none of us is innocent. We are too young, too ignorant for this kind of responsibility. Too arrogant to think we can run a school. We should be students ourselves, not teachers. We still have a lot to learn."
This speech earned her similar looks from Ginny and Millicent, looks that said there was something the two agreed upon and that was disagreeing to her words. Neither of them felt they were too young and ignorant, or had much to learn.
"Hermione's right," Ron suddenly spoke, sounding oddly authoritative. "I can't believe I'm the one saying this, but perhaps the students should calm down a little. Just a little. I'm not saying no more chaos," he said, looking at Ginny, "but I'm saying chaos under cover. Sneaking and scheming and plotting is fine, but not all this public rowdiness all the time."
They stared at him. They stared at him for a long time. Even the duck did.
"And we need to do something with the wards," he added, his ears slightly pink, "Ministry or not, people shouldn't be able to just walk into the castle. Millicent's right, you may never know their intentions, and it's better to be safe than sorry.
"I think we should… err… Why are you all staring at me like this?"
"It's weird to hear talk like that from someone wearing Chudley Cannons pyjamas," Ginny replied, shrugging.
"You've seen me wearing Chudley Cannons pyjamas all your life."
"Exactly."
Ron rolled his eyes, "All I'm saying is that no-one at Pigwarts should have to wake up scared that someone has stolen their pancake, metaphorically speaking."
Ginny exhaled in relief – this sounded a lot more like Ron.
"I thought the whole Great Pancake Caper was an accident," she said. "That Oscar was just sleepy and ate the wrong pancake, and in any case, Eddie wasn't all that upset with him about this. There was no real ill will in the matter."
"Ah!" Ron said, holding up a finger. "I said metaphorically speaking, didn't I?"
"What did you mean then? That Pigwarts is our pancake and we shouldn't let anyone nick it, even if only accidentally?"
"Err… that does sound good… yes… yes, that's what I meant," Ron said, grinning for good measure.
"Can I go now?" Millicent demanded. "We have made the decision. We'll send Daphne out to fix everything. We'll try to reign in the chaos for everyone's sake. We'll put up some better wards."
"I…" Hermione muttered, leaning against her table. "That does sound the right thing to do, doesn't it?"
However, her tone was doubtful or said the very opposite, causing confusion among her friends. Even the duck looked slightly puzzled.
"What do you mean, Hermione?" Ron asked.
Hermione frowned at the carpet and made a vague movement with her hand, "We all want to preserve the school, don't we? Protect it from the looming threats. And that's all good and fine… only…"
"Only what, Hermione?" Ginny prompted.
"Well, what if they're right?" Hermione exclaimed, looking up. "What if we're doing something very wrong? All the mess, all the chaos, it means something, doesn't it? What if it means we are not fit to run the school? What if we're going to mess up the students with our inadequacy, our ignorance… I mean, think how this all started? One night of too much drink and too many crazy ideas. And the next thing we know, we're running a school. We don't know what we're doing, do we?"
Ron and Ginny exchanged a glance between themselves, then turned both towards the duck, and then felt extremely silly for doing that.
"Quack," it said unhelpfully, leaving the two mystified and embarrassed with their behaviour.
Only Millicent knew exactly what to do. She marched up to Hermione, glared at her for a second, then slapped her hard across the face and commanded,
"Pull yourself together, woman!"
"Milla!" Ron cried out in surprise, while Ginny did exactly as ordered, stopped wondering about her strange reaction to the duck, and went to shove at Millicent instead,
"I've had enough of you and your abuse for one day. If my brother didn't have a stupid crush on you, you would have been kicked out of here a long time ago!"
"Ginny!" Ron exclaimed in shock, took one hesitative step towards the two women, thought better of it, tried his luck with a long reproachful gaze, gave up on that, and sent a pleading look of confusion first at Hermione, then at the duck.
The latter stared back and then flapped its wings a couple of times.
Ron sighed and took another step. Hermione jumped away from the table and effectively blocked his way. She, too, levered a stern gaze upon Ginny and Millicent, who were preoccupied with glaring and circling each other, or at least leaning first on one foot and then the other, due to the limited space.
He shook his head, knowing the stern look would not help a thing. Hermione, standing in front of him, reached the same conclusion, and barked, "Ten points from Weasley!"
For a moment it seemed that wouldn't work either, but then Ginny started to turn around, ever so slowly as if someone had cast some spell upon her, giving her assaulters plenty of time to panic. Ron almost did that, and was very glad indeed that Hermione had jumped between him and Ginny. It was not a very brave or gentlemanly thought, he realized a moment later, but it was a pure survival instinct. While Ron was thus struggling with his lesser feelings, Ginny had completed her spin and was now standing with her full glare directed at Hermione and Ron.
"What?" she asked in a tone that made Ron's legs shake despite everything. In his embarrassment he turned towards the duck, and took some comfort from the sight of it hiding its head under a wing.
"You heard me," Hermione replied, nothing in her voice or posture betraying that Ginny's terror tactics were working on her.
Behind Ginny's back, Millicent felt attention shift away from her and snorted to get it back.
Ginny wheeled around with such speed that Ron felt dizzy.
"Ten points to Potter," Hermione declared, "and it'll be twenty if the two of you don't stop it soon."
Beside Ron, the duck let out a soft sound almost like a snicker. The three women ignored it, but Ron looked at it with inquisitive eyes. The duck pointed its beak at Hermione, then at Ginny, and then snickered again. Ron realized the meaning of this when his sister finally succumbed to her curiosity, just as Hermione had intended her to.
"Why are you giving points to Potter?"
Hermione smirked, "That's for Millicent's benefit. She'd love me to deduct points from any house."
"Damn, woman," Millicent muttered her appreciation at such a sly and clever punishment.
"Right," Hermione said, pulling Ginny away and pushing her gently towards Ron, who didn't look too happy with such turn of events, or at least had been hoping to have the other one pushed towards him.
"Hey, you can't deduct points from me," Ginny remembered to protest. "I'm a Professor."
"So am I," Hermione replied matter-of-factly. "And I'll continue deducting points from your house and giving them to someone else, if I ever see either of you behaving like this again."
Fine, Ginny thought. I won't let you see it.
"Quack. Quack-quack! Quack!" said the duck.
"Exactly," Hermione agreed. "We have matters of great importance to discuss here."
"I thought we already decided what to do," Ginny shrugged. "You know, that moment when Ron opened his mouth and something reasonable came out of it. Yes, it really did happen. Yes, I know it's hard to believe."
Ron glared at his sister, but only a little and with affection, because she didn't hand out compliments like this every day.
"We find Daphne, send her to smooth it out with the Ministry," Ginny summarized.
"That's not what he said at all," Hermione frowned. "That's what you said."
"Really? In that case, I take back the compliment wrapped in an insult, Ron. Well, you can keep the insult part, if you wish," Ginny generously allowed.
"We strengthen the wands, find Daphne, and reign in the chaos," Millicent stated, "and you and I are going to have a little meeting away from bothersome witnesses."
There was a possibility Millicent had not said that last part, Ginny reflected, when Hermione failed to deduct and give out points, but she had certainly heard it.
"The wards are fine," Hermione said instead. "Mr Purple came here with the best of intentions. But if you'd like, I can have Harry and Draco check them."
Ron nodded, a sudden wave of reason coming over him again, "Let Daphne and Susan take a look, as well."
"Quack."
"Fine, Porridge Face, too, then."
Ginny wondered whether she should take offence that no-one had thought to ask her to help with the wards, but then she remembered that putting up and checking wards was a bloody nuisance and decided to suffer in silence.
"That leaves us with Daphne and chaos," Millicent said, "and I think we could kill two ducks with one spell here, so to speak."
"Quack?"
"Excuse me, but it was not Daphne that poured that poor fellow over with the goo," Ginny protested. "And it definitely was not Daphne that pointed her wand at a Ministry official."
"How chivalrously you jump to her defence," Milla snorted.
"We could give out more homework?" Hermione suggested. "Do more tests? Keep the students busy?"
"I second that," Millicent said.
Ron shrugged, and turned to consult with the duck.
"Could go either way," Ginny remarked. "Causing trouble is a great way to procrastinate doing homework."
"But you cannot cause trouble in detention."
"Yes. You can. You most definitely can."
"No in my detention," Milla said smugly, folding her arms.
"No, in your detention the students try to figure out what on earth did they do to be given detention, is that not so?" Ginny snapped nastily. "I've heard about your preemptive measures. Sending students to detention before they've done something wrong. "
"Exactly," Millicent nodded, "Not only do I punish them for something they would have done, I also stop them from doing it in the first place. Like I said, no one even thinks of making trouble in my detention."
"But fortunately they do not hesitate when it comes to dumping goo upon you."
"They will pay for this!" Millicent hissed. "Each and every one of them!"
"That's not totally fair," Ron muttered, and the duck quacked its agreement.
"See, even the duck agrees," he added.
Ginny opened her mouth for a triumphant exclamation, stopped mid-breath, frowned, recalled and frowned deeper, "The duck agrees?"
Millicent sniggered.
"Well, she does," Ron shrugged, as if he didn't see the absurdity of discussing the crucial matters concerning the future of Pigwarts with something that said "Quack!" and flapped its wings. And was a duck, Ginny added mentally, because it was possible to find a relatively sane person flapping their wings and say "Quack!" at Pigwarts, especially today.
"She?"
"The duck," Ron said, nodding towards it. Ginny looked away to stop herself from seeing something she wouldn't like to see, such as the duck nodding back.
"How do you know it's a she-duck?"
"Well… it… is," was Ron's amazing explanation.
"Ron's right. Female ducks usually display a plumage less colourful than that of the male, to better hide in the reeds from various predators, such as foxes or eagles. This kind of sexual dimorphism is more obvious in northern regions, while in the case of Paradise Shelduck of New Zealand the opposite applies – the female has a striking plumage of white and chestnut. However, an even bigger proof is that of its call. It is a fact, although less known than the widespread misconception suggesting otherwise, that only the females of most ducks quack, and never the males. In general, ducks make a wide range of calls, ranging from whistles, cooing, yodels and grunts."
Ginny turned to glare at Hermione, slightly glazed by the sudden wave of unwanted information, only to end up staring at a blank spot. She had to scan the room several times before her eyes caught what they were searching for – Hermione in her natural habitat, almost invisible behind neatly organized piles of books, a sheet of parchment in front of her and a quill in her fingers.
Ron's oddness had to wait.
"What are you doing?"
"Protocolling."
"Why?"
"Just in case some of us comes up with a good idea," Hermione smiled. "Oh, don't you give me that look. Without my protocolling, this school might never have happened."
"Fine, if it makes you happy," Ginny grumbled, and then added half-jokingly, "Will you note it down if the duck has a good idea?"
"If she articulates it to my comprehension, then certainly," Hermione replied. "However, I'm afraid I do not speak duck."
"Ron does," Ginny pointed an accusing finger.
"Look, it's not my fault the duck quacks sense," Ron defended himself, "Besides, I wouldn't turn down good advice right now, from whatever source it comes. With Daphne's mysterious disappearance, we need all the advice we can get."
"What did you say?" Ginny exclaimed, her expression suddenly frozen.
"I said we should decide upon our plan of action, instead of blaming the duck."
"No!" Ginny vehemently shook her head. "You said that Daphne has mysteriously disappeared."
"Well, you said it yourself that you cannot find her anywhere, didn't you?"
"Hah!" Ginny cried, grinning from ear to ear. She held up a finger and did a little happy dance that Oh No would have not been proud of, since it got repetitive and thus boring after the first few seconds, not to mention the continuous exclamations of "Hah!", which became really annoying really soon.
Millicent took a small step towards the door. She still wanted to meet with Ginny around the corner, but she preferred doing it when her temporary lapse of reason had passed. Millicent had nothing against madwomen, what with practically being one, but she intended to keep it that way. She didn't want any more rivalling madwomen around. Luna was causing her enough trouble as it was.
"Hah! Hah! Hah!"
"Are you all right, Gin?" Ron asked, concerned.
"All right? All right? I'm better than all right! I'm bloody fantastic!"
"Are you going to share your happiness with us, Ginny?" Hermione wondered.
Ginny replied with a bout of laughter, followed by more exclamations, "I was so stupid. Of course!"
Hermione stared at her, excited, quill ready to note down whatever brilliant idea had dawned on Ginny, because that was clearly her explanation to Gin's recent brightening of mood. Ron wasn't as sure, mostly due to the strange look his sister was giving him. There was also something about the duck next to him that raised doubt.
"Ginny?" Ron asked slowly, preparing himself for that which followed, whatever it would turn out to be.
Ginny stopped the dance and cries then, to everyone's relief, except Ron's, because now she directed all her exuberant triumphant bizarreness straight at him.
"You thought you were clever," she said, grinning, "and you were. But not clever enough for me!"
"Erm," said Ron. This was not time to wonder what he'd done, but what they'd found out he'd done, according to the endless wisdom of Fred and George, but right now Ron couldn't figure out even the first. Of course he'd done things, but nothing came to his mind that would make Ginny dance like this. Nothing that Ginny already didn't know about, that is.
"I'll tell you exactly what's going on," Ginny announced, when no one attempted to prompt her, "thought she would fool me, didn't she? Though she could do this and I'd be fooled, didn't she? Well, she was wrong!"
"Who are you talking about?" Hermione asked, frowning, her excitement waning as doubt took its place and invited confusion to sit beside it.
"Her!" Ginny exclaimed, pointing at Ron.
"Heh? What?" Ron looked around as if he expected to find someone hiding behind him, at whom Ginny was now pointing through him.
"Ron?"
"That's not Ron," Ginny said, paused for the dramatic effect and then added, "that's Daphne."
She was most satisfied with the shocked silence that followed. Even Millicent halted her creeping to the door and looked back, calculating and amused. Ginny avoided her gaze in case it would betray that Millicent had known about this the whole time.
"Yes," she said before anyone else could break the silence, "that's Daphne."
And she turned to him, or her, actually,
"Well-well-well, Daph. A clever idea, I'll give you that. I clever way to get back at me for being Susan without you. And you would have almost pulled it off. You would have almost got away even with talking to the duck. Almost."
"I'm…" Ron paused and thought of the way to phrase it the best. There was none. "I'm not Daphne. I'm Ron. Your brother."
"Oh, give it up, Daph," Ginny smiled, "I know it's you. Own it up and claim your prize for almost fooling me. That's a great accomplishment, you know. The best you can get."
"Umm…"
"Why do you think Ron is Daphne?" Hermione asked, wondering at the words while saying them. It didn't happen often that she got the chance to say such things, although life had certainly been interesting lately, in a half enjoyable half annoying totally confusing kind of way.
"Because she is," Ginny said. "Because we made a deal to act… I suppose I can tell you this now… we made a deal to act completely normal one day and see if people would notice anything."
And for you being completely normal is running around with someone else's appearance? Hermione thought, but didn't throw the blame in case it might be thrown back at her. She didn't know how much Ginny knew, but sometimes it was best to assume that she knew everything.
"And you already did that?" she asked instead.
Ginny hesitated the briefest of moments. Then she said proudly, "Yes. I was Susan. I was the one who caught the yeti."
"But that was just Percy," Ron remarked.
"Well, I didn't know it then, did I?" Ginny defended herself, giving Ron – that is, Daphne – a look of warning.
"You were very brave, Ginny," Hermione was the one to speak what Ginny wanted to hear, "not that that's a surprise."
"Thank you, Hermione," Ginny replied. "Keep it up and I might help you with the award for the Costume Competition."
Hermione's expression showed clearly that she had forgotten all about that in the face of more important, more urgent problems. Yet a school full of rebellious children expecting to be given a fabulous award in a few hours' time, if not even sooner…
"Thanks, Gin," she said, smiling, "I think we better wrap this up. We know what we have to do, more or less. Daphne-" she pointed at Ron "- will go to the Ministry and try to sort it out. I'll talk to Harry and Draco about the wards. Millicent, I do appreciate you trying to discipline the students, but you cannot give them detention before they've done something wrong."
Millicent shrugged. That was all right to her. She could always give detention after they'd done something wrong, and she was very good at coming up with a something.
"One more thing, people. I think it's best if, for now, we kept this information to ourselves. We'll tell the Professors in due course should it prove to be necessary; it might not. But it is very, very important not to cause any panic among the students."
She couldn't quite avoid a mental image of a school-wide panic – the thought made her shiver.
"Harry is OK, right?" Ginny asked. "You have to talk to him about the wards anyway."
"Harry and Draco are fine," Hermione nodded. "They should know about this. But no one else, OK? Just for now. Until we get a clearer image of what we're dealing with."
"Sure," Ginny agreed. "It will be our secret. Our secret operation. We should give it some kind of code name, you know, so we could use it in front of everyone without them knowing what we're talking about."
Millicent shrugged. She didn't give much damn either way. If she got the urge to tell someone, Blaise, for example, she would do exactly that, of course, but she doubted this was worth the mention.
"Daphne said something about chaos under cover, that sounded pretty good," Ginny continued. "Of course, it might raise unduly suspicion and make people think we're up to something…"
"Excuse me!" Ron shouted.
"What?" Ginny snapped, not happy about the interruption.
"I'm not Daphne!" Ron insisted.
"Oh, give it a rest, already. We all know you are."
"I am not! I am Ron."
Ginny sighed, and ignored him, "So I was thinking something that started with the letters CUC for Chaos Under Cover. Like cucumber. Or maybe cuckoo. I'm sure there's plenty of ways to insert these into conversation without making anyone suspect…"
"I. Am. Ron!" Ron insisted. "Hermione, please, it's me."
Hermione looked at him. She couldn't really say if Ron was Ron or Daphne. He looked like Ron, but he might be Daphne. It was, after all, just the kind of thing Daphne would do. And Ginny had just almost promised to help with the award. She couldn't afford being objective. She had to take Ginny's side, and Ginny was sure Ron was Daphne.
"You did talk to the duck," Hermione pointed out, glancing at the duck that had all this time sat on the table, completely silent. It made no noise now, either.
"Well, yes, but that's just because… hey! She talked to the duck, as well," Ron exclaimed and looked at Ginny.
"No, I did not!"
"Daphne," Hermione spoke, looking at Ron, "Please. We need you to go to the Ministry and talk to whoever gave us the licence. You must try to explain them that-"
"I'm not Daphne! I'm Ron."
Ron could read the expression from the faces of his sister, his friend and his – hopefully – future girlfriend. Ginny did not believe him. Hermione had the look of resignation, which meant she wouldn't help him an inch, and Milla seemed simply bored. She seemed just bored, but Ron had studied her carefully over the weeks, had tried to learn to read the most minute emotion she showed, because that was the only way to know what she was really thinking of. And she was beautiful and he was an enamoured fool, but thanks to that he now noticed the hint of something else in her expression.
Disappointment? She was disappointed that the person she had spent the last hour with, whom she'd yelled at and everything, turned out to be Daphne instead of Ron?
He had no way of knowing if his first assumption was correct. He had no way of knowing if he'd even read her expression right. But if he had, he couldn't let her be disappointed. No; he had to prove to her, and consequently to all of them, that he was indeed Ron, and not Daphne.
"Daphne," Hermione said, giving him a serious look and with that sealing her own fate.
Ron turned towards her, "Hermione, the night before the big battle, you know, the one at Hogwarts, the night before that I asked you something. You remember that? Good. You remember what you replied? No one else was there, no one else knows about it. You said "Ask me again later, and I'll give you the answer you are hoping for", didn't you, Hermione?"
He knew she did, and she knew she did, and that's why she stood there, her face all white, silence spreading all around them till broken, of course, by none other than Ginny.
"You asked her what? What did he ask you?"
Hermione shook her head.
"I'm Ron," Ron said. "I couldn't possibly know it if I were Daphne."
But the look on Hermione's face told him, without a doubt, because if she was good at something – though of course she was good at many things – it was looking guilty, that he was wrong. Now, Hermione would not confide in Daphne, what with her being in league with Ginny, but there were others Daphne was in league with. And Hermione was still looking guilty.
"You told Malfoy? You told Malfoy about this?"
"Well, you told Harry!" Hermione defended herself, yet the guilty look persisted.
"Of course I told Harry! Harry's my best friend!"
"Told Harry what?" Ginny interjected, burning with curiosity, "Told Harry what exactly?"
"And even if you told Malfoy," Ron continued, ignoring her, "Did you tell him the exact words? And did you tell him what happened next? Because I can tell you every little detail about the night, if you want."
"Tell me! Tell me!" Ginny prompted.
But Hermione stood there in silence and shook her head again.
"I'm Ron," Ron said.
"Oh, get out of my way," Millicent suddenly spoke, moving past Ginny and Hermione to stand right before Ron. "There's a very simple way of making sure if he's Daphne or not."
Ron opened his mouth to ask about it, but he didn't, because she answered him first. By yanking his face towards her and pressing her lips to his. Therefore Ron couldn't have spoken, even if the idea of doing so – or any other idea, for that matter – had then managed to cross his mind.
It ended all too soon for Ron, just about when he had got over his surprise and was starting to really enjoy it, not that he hadn't enjoyed it before, he had, immensely. But it was over too soon, leaving behind a memory sweet and spicy, and the crave for more, more, more.
"Well, that's clear now."
"He's Ron?" Ginny asked.
"Don't know. But he certainly isn't Daphne."
"Well, how would you know that? You have never kissed Daphne," Ginny protested, for the sake of disagreeing with Millicent. She actually wanted much more to bother Hermione about Ron, or Ron about Millicent, but first she had to bother Millicent for the sake of appearances. Or whatever.
"Yes, I have," Millicent replied triumphantly.
"What, you're the mysterious person she dated in her fifth year? You were the one that dumped her because she was too weird?" Ginny spoke sarcastically.
"What? No. That was Firenze."
"What?"
Hermione was very much relieved by the knock at her door at this point. Of course, Daphne's little secret had taken the attention off her little secret, but she was certain it wouldn't stay away for long, mostly because Daphne wasn't here for Ginny to pester her, while she definitely was. Therefore, she practically ran to the door and wrenched it open, and was very happy indeed to see Susan standing there.
"Hey," Susan said, "I just came to remind you that the dinner is starting in less than an hour. We'd better be ready to name the winner and hand over the prize by then."
Less than an hour! The winner! The award!
Hermione was in the middle of panicking when she heard the quacking. As she glanced back into the office, she saw the duck had jumped down from the table and was now running towards them, still quacking. Out of instinct and the fresh memory of the owl she jumped out of the way; the duck reached Susan, stopped, and pecked her feet.
"I'm sorry," Hermione said as Susan stepped back, "I'll take it away. Bad duck!"
Susan just smiled and took out her wand.
"Wait," Hermione began, "you should not hurt it."
"Hey! Leave that duck alone!" Ginny cried out, stepping closer. "It's Daphne's."
"Finite Incantatem."
"No!" several voices cried at once and then another silence took over.
"Correction," Susan said smugly, putting her wand away. "It's Daphne."
"Quack," said Daphne, smiling up at them. "I mean, was that enough to win the costume competition?"
Note: Well, was it? ;)
And a much more important question, what did Ron ask Hermione?
Whoever of you comes up with the wittiest answer, will have... erm... the everlasting fame and glory of coming up with the wittiest answer. Oh, and a packet of lime drops, if Ron can spare any.
