Disclaimer: I'm too young to be Rowling so there is sadly no way Harry Potter is mine…
Placing:Mid of fourthyear.
Challenge: 'Prompt of the day'. Prompt: (dialogue) "Or else the birds will crawl into the vodka!" 1712 words. Gryffindor, Hogwarts.
Challenge: 'MarchMadness'. Prompts: (word) wanderlust, (song) 'Crazy'–Britney Spears; (creature) garden gnome; (object) pink dress; (colour) alabaster; (word) investigate
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THE SLYTHERIN WAY
PART IV: Ravenclaw Help
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Draco Malfoy was in a good mood. Since the incident – the day Hermione Granger had decided to turn his insult around and see it as a declaration of love for herself – he had been hunted down by people who wanted to console him that 'the girl of his dreams' was going with another boy to the Yule Ball. Malfoy had hated it, had even tried to flee it without any chance of actually escaping.
But then, finally he had found his freedom again.
For two day now he hadn't been in any way or form consulted how to get a Gryffindor girlfriend or consoled for his inability to ask out Hermione Granger.
He guessed, that after two days of freedom, it was a clear sign that the whole debacle was finally over.
So, instead of hiding away in the kitchen, he entered the Great Hall for the first time since the whole trouble with Granger had started. He held his head high and played up the pureblood as good as he could to ensure that even the last traces of the idea of him and Granger would finally come to rest in the minds of his schoolmates.
"Draco," Pansy said surprised when he sat down next to her. "I thought you were still licking your wounds in the kitchen!"
Draco threw her a nasty look and then went for the potato mash.
"I was not 'licking my wounds'!" He replied a little bit miffed. "I just had to wait out until everybody else would finally forget that ridiculous notion of me and Granger!"
Pansy and a few of the other Slytherins exchanged a glance at that.
"Of course, Draco," Pansy finally said evenly. "Whatever you say, dear."
Draco decided that those words weren't worth reacting to and instead went for some of the steaks.
It was when he was done and about to leave the hall, that it happened.
One minute he was walking normally towards the door, the next a book-bag made him stumble.
"Oh, Malfoy, I'm sorry!" Granger said while pulling at the shoulder strap of her book-bag which she had been in the process to slit in.
Draco sneered.
"Watch what you're doing where, Granger!" He snarled. "I'm not interested in being shoved to the floor!"
Granger just raised an eyebrow at that.
"I guess you prefer to do the shoving," she said dryly.
"Exactly," Malfoy replied. "Believe me, mudblood, I would enjoy you being on your knees before me."
Before he could say anything else, he was slapped on the back of his head.
He turned around – just to look into the dreamy eyes of a girl in Ravenclaw robes.
"I know she drives you crazy, Draco Malfoy," the girl said dreamily, "but please refrain from using descriptions like that in front of the first years."
"What?" Malfoy looked at the odd girl in confusion. The girl instead just sighed.
"Please, Draco Malfoy," she said. "If you continue to behave like that she will never like you back."
And with that she walked off as if nothing happened.
Malfoy followed her with his eyes for a moment or two, but then he noticed the expectant gazes lingering on him and he fled the Great Hall.
It seemed that he had been wrong and it wasn't over yet at all…
That only got confirmed when in the middle of the afternoon classes, suddenly an alarm could be heard throughout the castle.
McGonagall stopped mid-talk with a frown.
"Well, children," she said. "That sounds oddly like a muggle fire alarm. Stay here and I will take a look."
The students in class with Malfoy looked at each other nervously. Especially the muggleborns seemed unhappy at the thought of having to stay inside the classroom.
Then the door to the classroom opened and the odd Ravenclaw girl from lunch stepped inside.
"Hello, Draco Malfoy," she said. "The garden gnomes told me to get you. They think that you need some help when it comes to asking girls out and decided that I might be the right person to help you with that."
Malfoy just stared at her in horror.
She had changed out of her Ravenclaw robes and into a frilly pink dress which emphasized her alabaster skin and her golden hair. She looked like a doll.
"Come on, now, Draco Malfoy," she repeated. "Or else the birds will crawl into the vodka!"
"What?" Malfoy squeaked, actually for once in his life unsure how to deal with someone. Now that he could take a good look at the girl, he recognised her as Luna Lovegood, Xenophilius Lovegood's daughter.
While the father of Luna Lovegood definitely was quite… strange, the family was still pureblood and well respected even with their tendencies to write about odd creatures.
Normally Malfoy guessed that his father would keep a cool distance to the girl or her father, but when Luna Lovegood latched onto Malfoy's arm, his thoughts of trying to stay at a distance were destroyed instantly.
The girl just looked up to him and smiled.
"Come now, Draco Malfoy," she said. "Let's act out our wanderlust and search for a way that will help you to get the girl of your dreams even with the unfortunate speech-jumble curse you're under."
And with that she pulled him out of the classroom.
"But… what about the alarm?" Malfoy asked while trying to free his arm from the girl's grip fruitlessly.
"Hmm?" Luna Lovegood said dreamily. "Oh, I set it," she confessed. "It was easier to get you out of the classroom like that – especially since my yak is currently on holidays."
Malfoy sneered.
"You set the alarm just to get me outside the classroom?" He asked unimpressed. "Just to force me to go on a hunt for garden gnomes?"
"Oh, no," Luna replied. "The gnomes just told me to get you. We've left the classroom because now is the best time to investigate how to ask out a girl!"
"How the hell did you figure that out, Loony?" Malfoy asked snidely.
Luna Lovegood just shrugged.
"It was easy," she said, then she crooked her head. "Well, at least it was easy for a Ravenclaw," she amended. "And now quit stalling or I will have to think up another way to get you out of the classroom tomorrow for the continuation of our lesson!"
Malfoy had the odd feeling that she actually meant it – and that thought didn't reassure him at all…
Still, that didn't stop him from trying to escape.
Sadly, 'trying' was the word of the hour. The Ravenclaw had, like Malfoy found out when she let go of him to open a door, done a spell that kept him in place. His hands were literally frozen to the arms of her pink dress.
Malfoy wasn't happy with that discovery at all.
"Alright," the girl said while pulling her wand and casting two more spells on them. "We're here."
Malfoy frowned.
They were near the charms corridor in front of one of the unused classrooms.
Luna Lovegood simply opened the door and forced Malfoy to follow her in.
She closed the door behind them and then led them into a corner.
Two minutes later, the door opened again and a Ravenclaw boy escorted a Hufflepuff girl inside.
"What the hell?" Malfoy exclaimed and was surprised when neither of the two newcomers reacted.
"They can't hear or see us," Lovegood said. "I made sure of that before we entered the room."
Malfoy wasn't sure that he liked the implication.
Then the Ravenclaw boy went down on one knee in front of the Hufflepuff girl.
"Hannah," he said. "Would you do me the honour of going to the Yule ball with me?"
Malfoy felt nearly nauseous by just watching this lovey-dovey behaviour.
The girl on the other hand started to smile.
"Anthony!" She exclaimed joyfully. "Of course I will, do you even have to ask?"
"Well," the boy said. "You might have been my girlfriend for a month now, but that doesn't automatically imply that you will go with me to the ball. I thought that the least I could do was to actually ask you!"
The girl smiled at that.
"Well," Lovegood said. "That means our part here is done. Hurry up! On to the next location!"
When Draco Malfoy finally returned to his common room, it was just before curfew.
"Where were you all day?" Pansy asked him frowning.
Malfoy just looked at her a little bit dazed.
"Everywhere at Hogwarts," he said, a little bit green in the face.
Pansy's frown just deepened.
"Why?" She asked confused and watched when Malfoy simply collapsed onto one of the couches.
"Lovegood insisted on teaching me how to ask a girl out," he whispered, still horrified. "And then I had to train with her until I had about seventy different ways to ask a girl memorized. I know now more of the different ways girls of different houses like to be proposed to than I care about."
"Well, that's… nice," Pansy settled on carefully.
Malfoy just turned a little bit greener.
"Very nice," he replied, clearly not meaning it at all. "She also copied down my schedule and set up some more practice time for me on the weekend."
At that he turned his soulful eyes at Pansy.
"Please!" He begged. "Safe me from Loony Lovegood."
Pansy thought that over for a moment.
Then she shook her head.
"No," she said. "This is your own fault. You couldn't hold your mouth – you have to suffer the consequences. It's as easy as that. I fear you're out of luck there, Draco!"
Malfoy just groaned at that.
"Kill me now!" He begged.
"No," Pansy said. "I don't fancy having to explain to your father why I decided to off his sole heir. Also, I like my position as a free member of our society far too much to consider your request."
Malfoy just groaned again.
"Alright," he said. "I'm off then to jump of the Astronomy Tower."
Pansy nodded.
"Alright," she said. "Have fun!"
Malfoy's eyes widened and he turned around rapidly.
"You won't stop me?" He screeched.
Pansy just shrugged.
"As long as I'm not the one who has to explain your demise to your father, I actually don't care," she said sweetly.
"But… but…" Malfoy spluttered.
"But you wouldn't have done it anyway," Pansy added for him. "You wouldn't shame your father by doing something foolish like that just because of some rumours of you and a mudblood. Good night, Draco."
"Night," the still dazed Malfoy heir replied and while Pansy went to bed, the Malfoy heir gave himself over to his misery.
He would never ever get rid of that rumour ever again!
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Just a little idea
Hope you liked it
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