Hermione
"Excuse me, what?" Hermione shrieked. "We need to what?"
"We need to talk," Fred repeated, not looking at the angry witch.
"Let me guess," Hermione scoffed, getting out of the bed and searching for her clothes. "This is some noble, Gryffindor shit. You can't stay with me because, what, you want to kill Death Eater and that's difficult when you're strapped to a witch?"
"I… Uh… I…" Fred stuttered. "I don't know what you want me to say."
"The truth. I want you to tell me the truth," Hermione screamed, yanking her shirt over her head. "Do you think you can do that?"
"Of course I can!" Fred yelled, getting angry.
"Oh really? Because about 10 minutes ago, you promised you weren't using me!" Hermione rebutted as she dragged her jeans over hips.
"10 minutes! It was a hell of a lot longer than 10 minutes!" Fred roared.
"Oh, barely!" Hermione scoffed again. "And for god's sake, put on your clothes!"
"You can't tell me what to do! I'm in the middle of breaking up with you!'" Fred growled.
"Fine!" Hermione screamed. "Don't listen to me!"
"What are you going to do?" Fred asked, knowing her tone.
"This!" Hermione replied, then she grabbed his clothes off the ground and threw them out of the window.
"What was the point of that! I can apparate home, you know!" Fred questioned.
"Yeah, but you'll have to do it naked. Then you can explain to your twin, who you neglected all summer, why you're naked in the kitchen!" Hermione replied. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm leaving!" She turned to storm out, but she stopped at the door and stared Fred down, adding, "Oh, and just so we're on the same page, we're over!"
After that, Hermione ran through Hogsmeade and back to Hogwarts. She noted, much to her chagrin, that it was much later than when she and Fred has went up to that room and ruined her life. She charged through the staircases and up the floors towards Gryffindor tower. When she reached a particularly ornery staircase, she stared at it until it decided not to mess with her. Her flight through the castle ended at the 6th girls dorm. Padma, Pavarti, and Lavender stared at her when she burst in.
"Hermione, what's happened?" Lavender asked, and Hermione was surprised by the genuine concern the blonde's voice.
Hermione gasped a few times before the tears hit her and she broke down in the middle of the floor.
"Oh no!" Pavarti and Padma exclaimed at the same time. They and Lavender gathered around the girl and gave her a , in a show of female solidarity, they started crying as well. There was no reason or rhyme to these tears, it was just how Lavender and Pavarti, and by extension Padma, conducted themselves.
It was roughly ten minutes later when Ginny stumbled into the dorm, a dreamy smile on her face. That smile changed quickly to a frown when she saw the girls, and their tissues, on the floor in the middle of the common room. Ginny took a deep breath, blew it out, and said, "Okay, which one of my brothers do I need to kill? I mean, I can narrow it down to two possibilities. Bill still has the power to ground me. Charlie's in Romania, Percy is at the Ministry, and Angie would kill George herself if she knew he'd made a girl cry."
"That's if George and her are still dating," Hermione scoffed as Padma said, "Oh no! Ron's a sweetheart!"
Ginny sucked air in through her teeth and said, "Fred. It's Fred that's going to die today."
"No, Ginny, don't. You're his sister. I don't want you to get in the middle of this. And, technically, I broke up with him." Hermione sniffed. When the group of girls looked at her incredulously, she added, "Well, I mean, I interrupted him, then got in before he could officially, so on a technicality, I broke it off with him."
"Oh, Hermione," Lavender said pitifully. "When people ask you, tell them he broke up with you… Well, except Slytherin… And most of Ravenclaw… They'll use it against you."
Hermione sighed, knowing they were right. Ginny felt the need to add, "And then there's McLaggen hitting on everyone in this school."
"Yeah," Pavarti said, "but that's old news. I mean, he's tried to sleep his way through all the 6th and 7th years. If we're not careful, he'll start on the 5th years soon."
Ginny grimaced, "He already has."
"Oh no. Tell the girls in your study group not to be caught alone in the halls after supper." Padma advised, blotting her eyes with a tissue.
"I will," Ginny replied seriously.
While Ginny had headed up to her dorm to find Hermione, Harry and Ron had stayed behind to search for Neville. After finding him, they all headed back to Hogwarts. Halfway there, they were shocked to find Katie Bell coughing and grabbing her throat. Then, she screamed silently and was thrown through air like a child throwing a rag doll.
"What do we do?" Neville asked, a look of horror on his face.
"I don't know," said Ron. "She's our star chaser, and that looks like she'll be out for the rest of the season."
"Ron, that's so not the point!" Neville smacked him over the head.
"Yeah I know that!" Ron shot back, rubbing his head. "But I can control that part! I can't fix her being cursed!"
"While that's all fascinating, shouldn't we find an adult?" Harry interrupted their bickering. Ron took that as a sign and ran back towards Hogsmeade. Katie collapsed to the ground violently, so Harry and Neville went to inspect her. Around her neck, they found an opulent necklace.
"It's definitely cursed," Neville said, staring at the emeralds. Harry was just about to pick it up using the box's wrapping paper laying nearby.
"Don't touch it, Harry," Hagrid warned, coming up with Ron. "We'll have to take her to Dumbledore. He'll know what to do."
"Hagrid, your unwavering faith in Dumbledore is astounding. Let's get her up to the castle. You going to levitate her?" Ron commented.
Hagrid ignored the redhead and levitated the witch to the castle, and to rescue.
Luna and Draco
"So, catch me up. What are people saying?" Draco asked, sitting down at a desk and placing a bowl of soup in front of Luna.
"Oh, you know, the usual," Luna shrugged. When Draco indicated that he did not, in fact, know the latest gossip from outside of the snake pit, she proceeded to inform him. "Hermione and Fred broke up over Hogsmeade weekend. It's really quite scandalous because, rumor has it, he rented them a room and they spent the afternoon upstairs."
"Fred's a shit-for-brains. The longest he lasts without her is the middle of summer hols. And that's only if Bill and Charlie don't find out he broke her heart right after breaking her hymen." Draco predicted with a roll of his eyes.
"Wow, being a full time Slytherin has really blunted you language," Luna observed. "I thought you snakes were supposed to be charming, not sincere."
"Haha," Draco mocked her, and she laughed a little too hard. "Anyway, continue with the rest of your gossip."
"Ron's probably having an on going threeway with Padma and Pavarti. It's not that they're in love, it's that they're all enjoying their mutual orgasms." Luna told him bluntly, causing him to spew his own supper across the room. "See, dear? That's how you properly scandalize someone. It's about timing, not vulgarity. Maybe teach that to your tittering princesses."
"Please, please, tell me you're lying about that," Draco begged, trying to get the mental picture of Ron and the Patil twins out of his head. There was no way he could envision it that wasn't completely degrading to everyone in the situation.
"Why? Going to seduce your own set of Slytherin sluts to one-up him?" Luna asked, taking a bite of soup daintily. She was not quite prepare for the icy glare Draco set on her. "What? Have I said something wrong?"
"While I understand that three-quarters of this school has no desire to understand Slytherin, I would think that a good, decent, pureblood witch like you would understand the social faux pas she just made. We may put up a stone cold exterior, but don't let those muggleborns and their weird traditions fool you. The girls in Slytherin are as pure as the freshly driven snow that encases this temporary prison we call school. Do not insult them again by insinuating that they are as free and and loose with their morals as you Ravenclaws," Draco said coldly.
"Interesting, you said girls. Are pureblood boys not meant to be as considerate to their future spouses?" Luna challenged with a quirk of her eyebrow.
"Luna Lovegood, you are the single most infuriating woman I've ever had to deal with," Draco started.
"Thank you," Luna interrupted.
"It's not a complement! You know better! You know better than to act all high and mighty because your father didn't believe in strapping you into a marriage contract! We're the upper echelon of society! Love is a made up construct meant to keep the poor, poor and make the rich richer! Why else did your father, a light supporter, marry the sister of a Death Eater?"
"Are you going to tell me about why you thought a cursed necklace was a good way to kill Dumbledore?" Luna shot back.
"I didn't think it was a good idea! The Dark Lord thought it was a great idea because it would be harder to trace, and I'm just a pawn, so I can't argue with him." Draco explained with an eye roll.
"That makes sense. Maybe, make the next plan a little more solid, though. Get rid of Dumbledore for both sides. At this point, you'll be a national hero," Luna suggested sweetly. Draco shuddered, grateful that she wasn't against him.
Ginny was ready to put the plan into place. Mclaggen was going to pay. She watched the seventh year N.E.W.T students walk out of the classroom, McLaggen was the last out, looking up a Ravenclaw's skirt. Ginny let out a scoff before walking down the hall and making eye contact with her prey. She gave him a little smirk as they met.
"Hey Weasley, looking spectacular as ever," he told her, eyes moving up and down her body.
"Is that so?" Ginny said, putting her parchment in front of her chest. "I just needed to ask about an essay. Is Professor Flitwick still in there?"
"Why don't I take a look at it?" He asked, pulling it from her chest, his finger's making contact with the buttons on her blouse. "I mean, I've study it all before."
Ginny's eye went wide at the contact. "You know, I can come back another time." She said trying to retreat. McLaggen had other ideas as he pulled her hand and put her between him and the wall.
"Why? I'm sure I can help. There's no reason to be scared, Gin." He told her, his hand snaking up her skirt. "What was the question about? The Tickling Charm?"
"No," Ginny said, finding her voice and courage as she looked him in the eye. "A Summoning Charm."
"Oh, I can help you with that," He smiled as his hand reached her bottom, moving her knickers to the side. Before Ginny could think, his lips were inches from hers. "We could rule this school, you know. Why fight this?"
"I have to go," Ginny said, snatching her parchment from his hand and rushing down the hall.
"I'll be waiting Weasley," he called to her as she turned the corner.
Ginny stood against the wall, a small tear falling down her face.
"Ginny?" A voice came from down the hall as Astoria Greengrass reached her. "You alright?"
"Yeah," Ginny said wiping her face. "Just on my way to the Great Hall for Defense."
"I'll walk with you," The girl said, wrapping her arm around her shoulder. Ginny nodded and as they walked in silence and entered the Great Hall.
When they entered, they saw Snape standing in hall, assessing the fifth years with his hawk-like glare. When the last of the fifth years arrived, they realized that all four houses were represented at the same time.
"Since you all finished the book work through the end of the year last week in your little study session, you'll be have hard practicals for the remainder of the year. Since you all seem to be co-dependant upon each other for your academic success, you can all either succeed together or fail together. To the Great Hall with all of you. We'll need the room."
The fifth years headed down the stairs in silence, wondering how this would work, and if they could really succeed with each other.
November 1996
"So, I have a question," Ron started one night, and Harry braced himself. "When did you break up with my sister?"
"Um… What do you mean?" Harry asked, confusion coloring his face.
"I'm serious, Harry," Ron started, then he put his hand up to stop Harry's inevitable 'Sirius' joke. "When did you break up with her?"
"We've haven't broken up," Harry said emphatically.
"If you haven't broken up, then why does McLaggen still have all of his fingers?" Ron asked sarcastically.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Harry asked, getting angry.
"What I mean is, yesterday afternoon, he was caught by several fifth years with his hand up her skirt," Ron glared at his friend, throwing him into a wall.
"He what!?" Harry yelled, shoving his friend aside and stalking towards the Gryffindor common room and his girlfriend. "That wasn't part of the plan."
"What plan?" Ron asked, following Harry through the corridors. When Harry ignored him, he repeated, "What plan, Harry?"
Harry continued to ignore Ron as they stormed through the portrait hole and towards Ginny and Hermione. When he cornered them, he grabbed Ginny by the arm and dragged her up the stairs to the boys dorm. "McLaggan had his hand up your skirt?!"
"What makes you think I would ever willing let him defile me like that?" Ginny seethed.
"What did he say?" Hermione questioned. "What did he say when you were talking?"
"He said we could rule this school if I gave him. As if. Doesn't even make sense."
"So, let me get this straight. You thought it would be a brilliant idea to use my baby sister to trick McLaggan into, what, admitting he's a womanizer?" Ron shouted at the trio. "Is that what I'm getting here? Because that's so insipid I can't even think of anything to compare it to! And that includes Pettigrew thinking he could get away with betraying your parents to Voldemort! The Rat Bastard!"
Gabs: We are so sorry! We didn't mean to fall of the face of the earth after Christmas!
Kat: School was long this year…
Gabs: For everyone. We apologize greatly to anyone still reading this story. We promise to get some updates out now that school is over.
Kat: We own nothing.
XOXO
Gabs & Kat
