Author's Note: I'm starting the fourth chapter
without any reviews *sniffle*. Oh
well, maybe I'll get some before I'm finished. Any way, good news,
Midnightzstorm (formerly known as Daydreamer) is thinking about coming back to
Harry Potter (yay!). For now, I'm still in charge (mwahahahahaha). Enjoy!
Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter or anything
associated with him.
"Well, Hermione, Ron's mad at me again," said Harry, plopping down on the couch next to Hermione in the Gryffindor Common Room.
"Figures," said Hermione not
raising her gaze from the book she was reading. "Selfish, inconsiderate jerks
tend to be mad at decent people frequently due to their inability to cope and
understand decent people."
"Harsh," said Harry simply.
"True," said Hermione just
as simply.
"Whatever, Hermione," Harry
muttered. "Hey, who was that girl behind you in the stands anyway?"
"Oh that," Hermione said,
finally closing her book and blushing furiously. "Well, she's a first year, her
name is Bethany Davis. You know how at the sorting ceremony I said that she was
like the Colin Creevey of the Slytherin House?" Harry nodded uncertainly,
thinking back. "Well, she's lost interest in Malfoy somehow and is always
following me around."
Harry snorted. "A Slytherin?
Following you around?" he laughed. "Didn't think they'd have the brains to
finally want to be a part of the better house."
"Well she's very nice,"
argued Hermione helplessly.
"You should still be
careful," Harry warned, growing serious again.
"Whatever," Hermione sighed.
"The Halloween Ball is coming up and I don't have a date because Ron and Seamus
are both being jerks."
"Well, join the club,"
muttered Harry, bitterly regretting not asking Cho and running the risk of
being too late again.
Suddenly, and idea seemed to
dawn on Hermione. "Harry! We could go
together!" she suggested.
"Eh?" Harry asked, utterly
lost.
"Think about it," said
Hermione. "You're mad at Ron. I'm mad at Ron and Seamus. It's the perfect opportunity. We could get back at
them!"
"I don't know Hermione…"
Harry said. "That would just make them more mad. Isn't someone supposed to
apologize so that you can just go back to being friends?"
"No, this is perfect,"
Hermione insisted. "Those brainless jerks would be getting what they deserve. How
bout it Harry? We'll just be going as friends, but they don't know that."
"I guess," said Harry, not
really liking the way this was turning out.
"Good, so it's settled."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
The next day at breakfast,
the fifth year Gryffindors were all grumpy and mad. Hermione wasn't talking to
Ron or Seamus. Ron and Harry weren't talking. Ron and Seamus were madder at
each other than ever and were completely ignoring each other. Seamus wasn't
talking to Harry or Dean owing to the selection for Keeper the day before.
"Harry, please ask Ron to
pass the butter," said Hermione.
"Ron, Hermione says to pass
the butter," said Harry exasperatedly.
"Dean, tell Harry to tell
Hermione to get the butter herself," Ron said.
Dean sighed. "Harry, tell
Hermione Ron says to get the butter herself."
"Parvati, tell Hermione and
Ron to stop arguing about butter," said Seamus.
Parvati giggled. "Hermione
and Ron, Seamus says to stop arguing about butter."
"Tell Seamus he needs to
shut his mouth and mind his own business," said Ron and Hermione together.
"Tell Ron and Hermione that
they need to stop acting like babies," said Seamus and Harry together.
"Tell them yourselves or
stop being hypocritical," said Hermione and Dean.
"Will you all just shut up?"
said Parvati, Lavender, and Neville.
Luckily, the arrival of mail
saved the group from further argument. Hedwig arrived with an answer from
Sirius for Harry. A school owl dropped a reply from Viktor in front of
Hermione.
Hermione hastily tore open
the letter.
Dear Hermione,
I don't feel comfortable having you go to the ball with someone else. I
believe that long distance relationships can only work if both people are
entirely faithful. We are having a Christmas Ball here but I am not taking
anyone. It only seems fair that you oblige to this agreement too. I hope to be
hearing from you on a more pleasant subject soon.
Always,
Viktor
Hermione stared at the letter, dumbfounded. Ridiculous belief, she thought to herself. She scarfed down the rest of her toast and left the breakfast table early to give Viktor a piece of her mind. She hurried down the deserted hallway to the Gryffindor Common Room.
"Hi Hermione," said a voice right behind her. Hermione jumped and almost screamed before turning around.
"Oh, hi Bethany," she said, giving a relieved sigh. "You need to stop scaring me like that."
"I'm sorry," said Bethany sincerely. "I saw you leave during breakfast and I was just wondering where you were going. If you're going to the library to study, can I come along? I'm ever so interested in learning advanced magic. I've memorized the course books but it just doesn't seem enough."
"Er, I'm sorry Bethany. I just got a letter from my boyfriend Viktor and I wanted to write a reply as soon as possible," Hermione explained.
"Oh!" exclaimed Bethany, her face lighting up. "I heard that you went out with that Quidditch superstar Viktor Krum! Is that true? Can I read the letter or is it personal?"
"Yes, that's true," Hermione confirmed, starting to lose her patience. "But it's a rather private letter and I'd rather you not see it."
"Oh," said Bethany shortly, looking crestfallen. "Well I've got to finish my breakfast. Are you going to the Library today? I'd really like some help looking up hard subjects."
"Sure," said Hermione, rather annoyed now.
"Wow! Thanks Hermione!" Bethany exulted. "I'll see you around then!" She turned back towards the Great Hall. "Bye!"
"Bye," said Hermione, realizing that it was time for classes now. She sighed heavily, her response to Viktor would have to wait.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Hermione was the first person to arrive at Transfiguration. She took a seat near the front of the class and dropped her books onto the table. Professor McGonagall was not there yet, so she busied herself with reviewing this year's transfiguration book, which she had already memorized.
To her utter disgust, Seamus was the next person to arrive. Even worse, he sat down next to her.
"Hey Hermione," he said. She lifted her eyes from her book for a split second to glare at him before returning to reading.
"I just wanted to apologize," he continued. "I know I've been acting like a shadow and a mindless little minion since the school year started. It must get annoying."
"It does," said Hermione putting down her book. He was apologizing? Ron never apologized. What a pleasant change
"Well, I just wanted to say that I'm sorry, and I promise I won't do it again," said Seamus earnestly.
"That's very nice of you," Hermione replied, smiling. "I accept your apology."
"Thank you," Seamus said, grinning back at her. "So, will you go to the Halloween Ball with me?"
"Oh right, about that," Hermione started, looking uneasy. "I would like to go with you Seamus, but I've decided to go with Harry."
"With Harry?" Seamus blurted out, surprised.
"Just as a friend," said Hermione quickly. "That way I don't have to choose between you and Ron and because I'm mad at Ron, going with Harry would just be giving him what he deserves."
"Going with me would make him angrier," Seamus pointed out.
"Well, I don't want to make him too mad. He is one of my best friends after all," Hermione said. "Just remember that Harry and I are just going as friends, but don't tell Ron that."
"Fair enough," said Seamus. "So we're friends again?"
"Friends," confirmed Hermione.
Seamus leaned in and gave Hermione a quick hug. He pulled away just as Harry and Dean entered the classroom. Seamus moved to another seat and Harry sat down next to Hermione. The rest of the class started to enter, followed by Professor McGonagall.
"Were you just hugging Seamus?" Harry hissed at Hermione.
"Yes, so?" she said indignantly. "He apologized, which is more than I can say for Ron."
"Ron is going to be so mad when he finds out that you and Seamus are friends now," Harry stated plainly.
At that moment Professor McGonagall started her lesson. Seamus, on the other side of the room was thinking to himself. The next best thing to taking Hermione was to take someone else that would make Ron mad. He thought hard for a few minutes, oblivious to McGonagall's lecture. Then he thought of it. Of course, he said to himself, wondering why he hadn't thought of it before then.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"Hey Ginny," said Seamus, sidling up to her.
"Um, hi," said Ginny, obviously wondering who this weirdo was.
"You wanna come to the Halloween Ball with me?" he asked easily.
"And who might you be," she asked skeptically, raising her eyebrows.
"I'm Seamus, Seamus Finnigan. I'm a friend of your brother's and Harry's," he replied. "So how bout it?"
"Sure I guess," she said. She had begun to give up hope of finding a date for the ball. She supposed it was better to go with a good looking, although rather strange guy than no guy at all.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Meanwhile, the same thought had crossed Ron's mind. If he wasn't going with Hermione, might as well choose someone that would make Seamus mad. So he decided that the best thing to do would be to take Lavender Brown. Seamus went to the ball with her last year after all.
He found Lavender in the Gryffindor Common Room and quickly asked her. Her response was "(giggle) ok (giggle) I guess (giggle) I'll (giggle) go with you Ron (collapse to the floor with a hysterical fit of giggles)."
"Right," said Ron, looking confused and staring at where she lay on the floor. "Are you sure you're ok?"
She was too overcome with giggles to respond, so Parvati responded for her. "Yes (giggle) she'll be fine."
He walked off muttering about how Seamus had the strangest taste in girls before realizing that they liked the same girl.
A/N: All done, now just about everyone is going to the ball with someone else. Yes, Neville, Dean, the Weasley twins do have dates. You'll see who they go with in the next chapter and Cho is also going with someone (she's cool cause she's my alter ego, or at least she acts like it:). Anyway, please R&R! Thank you!
Before I forget, I've decided to do a thank you section for the people that already reviewed (you're all so nice!):
HGW (thank you! Midnightzstorm just has to be original in almost every story we write, she hates clichés :) Demon_Child (um, actually Ron's mom isn't the new DADA teacher, that was just me fooling around, guess I shouldn't put so many author's notes in the middle of the story. I bet it gets confusing :). Thanks for reviewing) Hogwarts chica (lol, you know what? I love you! You are so cool. Thanks a bunch :) 3ddesd (lol, well thanks. I mean siriusly :), I didn't come up with the plot, Midnightzstorm did most of it, but I like it too) harriettrotter (thank you for reviewing, I take it that you like the story :) Carly (Thank you, I love good reviews) Joti (*blushes* well thanks, uh… yeah thanks. I love good reviews!), anonymous (lol, well… I wasn't planning on making everyone fall for her but thanks for the suggestion, and, as always, thanks for reviewing), Evie (yeah, you're right, I need to stop doing that. Thanks for reviewing) trina-k (yes yes, it will be finished… eventually, even if no one has reviewed *frowns* thanks for reviewing), Daydreamer (yeah, you know the drill, we already know what's going to happen in the rest so whatever), MissThing13 (thank you, more soon), ronluver (entirely agree with you, she needs to be with Ron… wait a minute, I'm writing this story, I can do whatever I want. *dances with glee at this revelation*. Not that I'm giving away any hints or anything… Thanks for reviewing twice!), ROTCGirl (yes, *looks into own crystal ball* chapters, just a few more probably and as quick as I can get them before school starts. Thanks for reviewing), and last but not least, U_NO_Who (yes, I know who, and you still can't spell, even the word know :) j/k, only person to review the third chapter I see, I wonder why…)
REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW! Thank you, that's all I have to say.