Chapter 47: Roommates

February 26, 1994

"Come on," Hermione said to Ron. "We're going to be late."

"Late to what? And where's Harry?"

"Harry's at Quidditch. He's coming from the Pitch. But you and I can't be late. Dumbledore's assigning rooms," Hermione explained impatiently, turning a corridor. She didn't want to be late for room-assigning! They only got to go on a cruise once. They couldn't waste time.

"Fine, fine," mumbled Ron. "Where do we have to go?"

"The Great Hall!" Hermione cried exasperatedly. "Come on. Hurry up!"

"I'm coming!" Ron followed her long strides. "Why do we have to get there on time?"

"He's assigning rooms, Ron, I need to know my partners!" Hermione glanced at her watch. "Oh no, it's probably already started by now."

"It's not my fault," mumbled Ron.

"Yes, it is!" snapped Hermione. "If you hadn't taken so long to get on your shoes and your robes-"

"I couldn't find them!" Ron protested. "Right, Hermione, not left. The Great Hall is that way."

Oh, right. She was too preoccupied and annoyed to notice. "Ergh." She turned right and started jogging down the hallway.

"Hermione, wait!" cried Ron, sprinting after her. "You're going to fall, Hermione!"

True to his word, Hermione stumbled over her cloak. Ron slid forward and caught her arm just in the nick of time.

"Oh," mumbled Hermione, turning bright red. "Thanks."

"Yeah." Ron pushed her up until she was standing straight, and then he slowly let go of her. Hermione could swear he looked a little disappointed. No, that was just her imagination. "You're welcome."

"Well, er, maybe we should go slower now," Hermione muttered, looking anywhere but his face.

"You mean you should go slower." Ron smirked, and her eyes - against her will - flitted up to his face. "I told you you'd fall. Lucky I was there to catch you, or you'd have a concussion."

Hermione rolled her eyes. "I would not get a concussion, and I could've caught myself."

"Sure," Ron replied. "I won't catch you next time."

"There won't be a next time!" snapped Hermione. "We have to go now, we've probably already missed the entire thing!"

Ron smirked. "Whatever you say."

For some reason, Ron's blow-off attitude just irked Hermione even more.

"Okay, everyone, listen up!" cried Dumbledore. "I've assigned rooms for everyone. You have some say in who you would like to be with. I've already gotten requests."

Remus paled. He'd already gotten requests? Had someone ruined his whole plan? Now he had to go up, in front of everyone, and explain that he wanted to be with Tonks on the cruise…

Oh, Merlin.

"So, we'll start with the teachers!" he announced, pulling open a stack of papers. "Now, as a general rule of thumb, everyone in a room will be of the same gender. Our first pair is, Professor Snape and Professor Flitwick!"

Many people were sniggering behind their hands at the thought of Snape coming on a cruise with all of them.

"Oh, wait." Dumbledore frowned. "Is Severus not here? I don't see him. Hm. He mustn't have come to the selection! That is sad, really."

"Don't worry, Professor," said Charity Burbage cheerfully. "I can let him know."

"Ah. Thank you, Charity." Dumbledore smiled. "Our next pair is, by special request, Professor Potter and her husband."

Why couldn't Remus have requested earlier? He didn't want to tell Dumbledore that he wanted to go with Tonks in front of everyone…

"Now, we have Professor Trelawney and Professor McGonagall!"

Minerva huffed.

"Ah, yes. Next, we have Professor Lupin, and…"

"Wait," interjected Remus, feeling his face go warm. "Er, can I put in a special request?"

"Go ahead." Dumbledore peered at him.

He squeezed his eyes shut and said, very quietly, "I'd like to go with my girlfriend, please." He could see James and Lily smirking at him from the other side of the room, and he felt himself go red.

"You have a girlfriend?" asked Dumbledore loudly, in excitement. Remus wanted the earth to swallow him up right there.

"Yeah," he said weakly.

"Did everyone hear that?" asked Dumbledore excitedly, addressing the room. "Our dear Professor Lupin finally has a girlfriend!"

Remus glared at the headmaster, who seemed to be enjoying this a little too much.

"Professor Lupin has a girlfriend?" cried Kylie. "Oh, no, Professor!"

"That's not fair!" shouted someone else.

"I wanted to be his girlfriend!" cried another girl, who was very much upset.

Remus wanted to cry.

"Now, now, that's enough," said Dumbledore, grinning. "Remus, I will assign you with your girlfriend. This means I will have to do a bit of shifting." He scribbled at his parchment for a while. "There. You were originally going to be with Professor Binns, you know."

"Professor Binns is coming on this trip?" asked Remus in disbelief.

"Oh, yes," Dumbledore said happily. "Professor Binns will now be with Professor Hagrid!"

Hagrid tried very hard to hide his groan.

"So, next, Professor Sinistra and Professor Vector!"

The two women cast smiles full of teeth at each other.

"Lastly, Professor Burbage and Professor Sprout!" Dumbledore finished. "That's it for the teachers that will be coming."

"What about Filch?" yelled a student from the crowd.

"You care about him!" cried Dumbledore, smiling. "I'm sure it would warm his heart to know you asked about his well-being."

"I didn't…," started the kid, but he rolled his eyes and decided not to finish his sentence.

"Now, for the students. I have received many requests, so I tried to incorporate as many as possible. Of course, I couldn't get everyone…"

"Hurry up!" cried a kid.

"Yes, okay. We have Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, Seamus Finnigan, and Dean Thomas in one room."

"Not bad!" bellowed Ron, thumping Harry on the back. "Good group!"

Dean and Seamus exchanged grins.

"Katie Bell, Alicia Spinnet, Angelina Johnson, and Demelza Robins," Dumbledore continued, "in another group."

Katie, Alicia, and Angelina all nodded happily. Demelza looked a little uncomfortable.

"Parvati and Padma Patil, Lavender Brown, and Ginny Weasley," he went on, "and in another room, Ajit Sippy, Carlos Ayala, Jacques Labelle, Roger Davies."

Roger groaned audibly. The other three exchanged smirks.

"Candice Weber, Kylie Johnson, Luna Lovegood, and Liana Potter. Allesia-"

"Sia."

"Right, right. Sia Channing, Valentina Bellegrade, Ella Bouvreal, and Ella Bouvreal."

"Yay!" squealed the Ellas. Sia shot a grin at Valentina.

"Now, Neville Longbottom, Cedric Diggory, Draco Malfoy, Percy Weasley. In another room, we have Cho Chang, Marietta Edgecombe, Selena Harris, and Leatrice Wesley." He took a deep breath and went on. "Aliya Mehra, Katie Bell, Pansy Parkinson, Penelope Clearwater.

"Justin Finch-Fletchey, Ernie MacMillan, Vincent Crabbe, and Gregory Goyle.

"Susan Bones, Hannah Abbott, Melinda Pace, and Ana Lopez.

"Jonathan Morgan, Irwin Stevenson, Oliver Wood, Colin Creevey.

"Marie Larson, Svetlana Ivanov, Mei Wang, and Hermione Granger. That's all!"

Terry Boot raised his hand.

"Yes, Mr. Shoe! Oh, I mean, Mr. Boot."

Terry growled, but then said, "You missed me. I didn't hear my name."

"Oh, Terry Shoe, I'm sorry-"

"It's. Boot."

"Yes, yes, yes. Terry Boot! I'm sorry, but the highest limit is four kids. Including an adult for each."

"An adult?" asked someone in the crowd.

"I'll address that in a moment. But yes, I'm sorry, Mr. Boot. You will be on your own."

"On my own?!" yelped Terry. "But that ruins the whole point, sir!"

"I'm sorry, my boy. Now, we have much to discuss, so let's get going on. Remember, we will still have lessons on the cruise-"

"WHAT?!" cried the kids in unison.

"Lessons?"

"But that's not fair!"

"How do we enjoy a cruise if we're going to be taught?"

"What about magic on the cruise?"

"How about classrooms?"

"Where will we learn?"

"That's not fair!"

"Silence, please, my children!" Dumbledore cried. "You will enter your teacher's room for lessons. I promise they will not take up much time. They will only happen on sailing days. Now, since kids cannot keep a room on their own, you all are booked under an adult's name, but they will not be staying with you. All clear?"

"Yes," chorused the students.

"Very well. Talk to your partners and discuss room logistics. Your room numbers are on the pamphlets. Everyone take one and read it! If we're going on a cruise, we must know what we are doing!" Dumbledore announced jovially. "With that being said, I wish you a good afternoon!"

The students cheered.

"Sit down, sit down," Lavender grumbled. "Okay, we're all sharing a room with one bathroom and two beds. One big bed and one that comes out of a couch."

"How does a bed come out of a couch?" Ginny wondered.

"I have no clue. Anyway, Parvati and Padma can sleep together on one bed," Lavender continued. "Because they're sisters. Ginny and I can take the sofa-bed." She frowned. "But, er… do I have to be with a second-year?"

Ginny scowled. "I'm only one year younger than you, troll-head."

"I can be with her," Padma jumped in. "Parvati can be with you since you two are friends." Padma turned to Ginny, smiling slightly. "Is that okay with you?"

"As long as I'm not with this one," - Ginny jerked her head towards Lavender - "then I can be with anyone."

"Oh, please."

"We'll take bathroom shifts, then," suggested Parvati.

"I call first!" cried Lavender.

"I dibs!" screamed Ginny.

"I said it first," Lavender said smugly.

"Dibs counts more."

"For Merlin's sake," Padma said exasperatedly. "I'll take the first shift. Parvati will take second. Lavender will take third. Ginny will-"

"Don't even finish that sentence," Ginny said warningly.

"It won't change anything. You're still fourth."

"Miss I'm-so-good will take all the time in the world to shower!" she snapped.

"No I won't."

"Yes you will!"

"Guys, shut up," Parvati interrupted. "I can take fourth. Ginny gets third. Okay? And Lavender, fighting with Ron's sister is probably not good for your… goals."

Lavender turned red.

"Wait, what goals?" Ginny raised an eyebrow. "Wait, wait, stop. You… Ron…" Her eyes widened and her mouth dropped. "You like Ron?!"

"Shut up," mumbled Lavender. "Parvati, I will kill you-"

"You like Ron!" exclaimed Ginny. "That's the second person! What do you see in him?"

"The… second person?" Lavender asked. "Who's the second person?"

Ginny ignored her, rubbing her hands together.

"I have so much blackmail now."

"Minerva… I predict that you will die on the cruise!" Trelawney whispered dramatically, shaking. "You will drown and DIE!"

It would've been scary.

It truly would've.

If she hadn't done this over fifty times before.

"I'm delighted to hear that," McGonagall said dryly. "When I do, you can have the room all to yourself."

Seriously, Dumbledore? Did he have to pair her with Trelawney?

"No… you will die!" She looked disappointed. "Don't you care?"

"Most certainly," Minerva replied. "Sybill, we must make our room adjustments-"

"If you stay on the large bed, you shall die," Trelawney 'predicted.' "You must take the sofa bed… yes, yes, sofa bed."

"This is a ruse so you get the larger bed!" shrieked McGonagall. "It won't work. I take the large bed, you take the sofa bed."

"Never."

"Yes."

Trelawney bared her teeth. "Never."

McGonagall sighed.

Trelawney was a real pain in the rear.

"No, James, that stands out," Lily sighed. "Nobody wears such… bright yellow leotards on a cruise."

Lily and James were at a Muggle clothing store, because they needed clothes for the cruise that weren't robes, or Wizarding wear that would stick out.

"Oh no," James said sarcastically.

"Just let me pick your clothes out for you… there." She pulled out a red t-shirt and tossed it to him. "Check if it's your size."

"Muggles have weird sizing charts," he complained.

"Go into the dressing room and test it out," she suggested. "Do you like the color, though?" She rifled through the hangers. "You can get other sizes of this shirt too, you know."

"I like it," he mused. "You've got good taste."

She blushed. "Yeah, I know. This print is the latest trend."

"Okay, I'll try this on. Anything else?"

"You've got jeans, so that's fine. You're going to need a new swimsuit."

"My trunks are fine!" argued James.

"James, you're going to look like a doofus in those trunks. Don't deny it, shut up. It's got goblin print all over."

"That was five years ago!" he exclaimed. "I threw those away. I've got red ones."

She rolled her eyes. "Shut up. You need navy blue. Something more catchy. You can't stand out."

"If you say so," he groaned. "Anything else?"

"Not really. I'll just check some out for me." She ran a hand through her hair. "My swimsuit is fine, I'll just get some shirts. And shorts."

"Whatever works!" enthused James. "I can't wait for this cruise!"

Lily grinned, gently pecking his cheek. "Okay, you go try those on. Let me know if the size doesn't fit."

"I will," he assured her, and he was gone in a flash.

Remus and Tonks were reading through all the cruise papers Dumbledore had told them to read to make sure there was no mess-up.

"So we start at Marseilles," noted Tonks. "Fun. I can't wait."

"Neither can I," replied Remus. "Well… I can wait for one thing."

"What?" She frowned, then her face cleared. "Oh, you mean the beaches? The oceans? And swimming?"

He smiled slightly. "Yeah."

"Remus," she said. "There's nothing wrong with going swimming. The Healers can easily cover up your scars. That's nothing big."

"I know… but just…"

She smirked. "I think you look just fine in the pool."

"You haven't even seen me in the pool," he countered.

"How do you know?"

He opened his mouth and then closed it, at a loss for words. "Fine. But just because you're one of the nicest people in the world does not mean everyone else won't laugh-"

"Are you really worried about people laughing at you?" Tonks asked, the corners of her mouth twitching. "And I'm honestly not one of the nicest people in the world. I can be pretty mean when I want to. You should've seen me take care of Jeremy last week."

Remus laughed. "As entertaining as I'm sure that would've been, it's not just that. I don't want to expose myself in a pool."

She wrapped an arm around his shoulders. "You'll be fine, Remus. And I bet you five Galleons that not only will they not laugh at you, they'll probably drool."

He rolled his eyes. "You're going to lose this bet. Big time."

She grinned. "We'll have to see about that."

A/N: Dumbledore is super eccentric. And he's only going to get worse (or better, depending on how you look at it).

Only two more chapters before they leave! :)