Hi all! Wow I made it past 60 reviews~! Go me! Thank you all! And in this
special "thank you" edition of Harry Potter and the Lantern of Lurve, I
thank all my reviewers – see the bottom of the page. Sorry to those I
didn't thank individually. 63 reviews is a lot to reply to, and a lot of
things I would have ended up writing 25 times. So no hard feelings if I
didn't write personally to you! I appreciate the review and will try to
reply to you next time!
To those who were worried about my suicide reference, thanks for the concern! I was only kidding, but it's nice to feel loved! Besides, why would I kill myself now? I studied my butt off for the past few weeks and that effort would have been wasted! I will at least wait until exam results come out (2 weeks *shudder*) and then reconsider my options! *lol* kidding! Anyway, if I fail my dad might just kill me…
Hehehe I made it to the cricket and it was GREAT! More on that on Tuesday – today's author's notes and thankyous are long enough as is… But for those of you who have no idea who I am drooling over, I will try and post his pic as my author's photo… And for those of you (Americans!) who have no idea what I am talking about when I mention cricket (no not the funny bouncing insect!) let me know in your review and I can try and explain it! :o)
Enjoy the story! Hopefully Chapter 7 will be out on Tuesday… Of course, I haven't actually written it yet… Minor detail! See you then!
Chapter Six – Gambling and Girly Gossip
He didn't know how he did it, but Harry managed to keep Hermione's secret. He couldn't help but chuckle every time he saw Hermione and Ron together. Their feelings about each other were obvious to everyone but them, and there were numerous betting pools around the school as to when exactly the two would get together. Harry himself had bet 1 galleon that they would become a couple in the fortnight preceding the Valentine's Ball, and he knew that Seamus and Dean had spent at least 3 galleons each betting on various times throughout the school year. What Harry couldn't understand was how neither Ron nor Hermione had noticed anything strange. Whispered conversations and strange glances followed them around, and still they were blissfully oblivious. For someone so smart, Hermione is fairly obtuse when it comes to matters of the heart Harry mused. And Ron, well he's just too scared of failing and not living up to what he thinks everyone expects of him to bite the bullet and make a move. Which leaves a potential relationship stuck in limbo. Harry sighed. He hoped that something would happen soon as all he wanted was for his friends to be happy. I wonder if there isn't some way we could speed things up there…?
Holidays crept up on Harry, and before long the corridors of Hogwarts were filled with students and their trunks, leaving Harry, Hermione, Neville and the Weasleys as practically the only occupants of the Gryffindor tower. A second year and two first years were also staying behind, but the second year was always studying, and the two first year girls were so shy that they never talked to Harry. He heard them giggling and gossiping a couple of times, so he knew that they weren't mute, but it seemed that every time he walked into a room they would both clam up completely.
Meanwhile, Ginny and Neville had become good friends. Ginny and Hermione had been good friends for quite a while, but since Hermione was so worried about the OWLs (and preoccupied with Ron), Ginny had made other friends. She was also a close friend of Colin Creevey, but since he and his brother Dennis had gone home for the holidays Ginny was spending much of her time with Neville. Fred and George were busy planning the Ball and the auction, with Harry contributing wherever possible. He strongly suspected that they were also spending time working on Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes, despite their promises to Mrs Weasley that they would study hard and not work on materials for the joke shop until after they graduate.
Harry was glad that Malfoy had gone home for the holidays. From what he had heard, Malfoy was still being taunted about his teddy bear. Harry on the other hand often found himself being accosted in the hallways, and being thanked by random Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws. The break from Malfoy's sneers and snide comments (and congratulations from strangers) was most welcome, in Harry's opinion.
The holidays flew by, filled with friendship, study and Ball and Auction preparations. The auction was almost completely organised, and the majority of the ball preparations were complete. The order for the auction of the slaves had been decided, and Lee Jordan had apparently been practising his auctioning skills all holidays. ("It's driving my mum up the wall!" he'd said in a Christmas owl to the twins.) The stage and its decorations had been prepared in the Great Hall, and by the time the new term commenced, the auction was all that anyone could talk about.
In the two weeks between the commencement of term and the auction, very little work was achieved at Hogwarts. Even Snape had sensed that he wasn't going to achieve much, and Potions class was much easier than normal. Unfortunately, this left more time for Malfoy to sneer and threaten Harry, which wasn't exactly Harry's idea of fun. On the plus side, it allowed Harry numerous opportunities to sneak a surreptitious glance at Draco, who in Harry's opinion was getting sexier by the day (although he would never admit this to anyone except for perhaps Hermione). After one particular Potions lesson, about 3 days before the day of the auction, the students hurried into the hall in their usual haphazard manner, eager to get out of the dungeons and away from Snape. As they left the dungeons, Malfoy pushed past Harry and Ron, causing Harry to go sprawling to the floor and Ron's books to scatter everywhere. Ron looked more annoyed than Harry had ever seen him.
"What the heck is your problem, Malfoy? Hurrying home to teddy?" He asked sarcastically.
"Why? You jealous?" Malfoy drawled. "After all, I'm sure your parents couldn't afford for you to have a teddy bear. But, don't worry, perhaps the Mudblood will offer to fill in for you? Or even Snotty Potty… I hear he…" Amused onlookers never got to find out what Malfoy had heard, however, as an enraged Weasley blushing bright red lunged at Malfoy. "Why you-!" His large hands reached out towards Malfoy's neck, his freckled hands a stark contrast to the pale creamy skin of Malfoy's neck. Luckily for Malfoy, Professor Snape appeared at that very moment and broke up the fight before it had even begun. Harry supposed that Snape had surfaced from the dingy dungeons to find out to where his next class had disappeared. Indeed, there was a large crowd gathered around, watching the unfolding situation with glee. Harry heard a seventh year Hufflepuff say to his friend "Well I am glad that horrible Malfoy kid finally got what was coming to him!"
In the end, Malfoy was not the one punished, as Snape was as unwilling as ever to punish a student from his own house. Malfoy got away without a scratch, whilst Ron was ordered to serve a detention. This proclamation was met with a chorus of booing from the assembled students, which was quickly quelled by a dirty look and a snarled "Get to class, all of you!" from Snape. Harry quickly stood up and dragged a still fuming Ron away, fearing that if they remained any longer, Snape would try to have Ron expelled. Halfway to Transfiguration Ron realised that his books were still scattered on the floor of the hallway, meaning that they had to double back and they ended up being very late. Professor McGonagall had obviously heard about the fight, as when the duo hurried into class and sat in their usual seats she didn't say a word.
Harry, Ron and Hermione managed to make it through the next 24 hours without getting into trouble, and after dinner Ron trudged off reluctantly to do his detention with Snape, leaving Harry and Hermione together in the common room. Things just weren't the same without Ron there, so Harry and Hermione packed away the wizard's chess set and curled up in the corner for a heart to heart.
"So…Harry…"
"Yeah Mione?"
"What's going on between you and Draco Malfoy then?"
"Huh?" Well she's certainly straight to the point… and right on the money. Darn! Should I fob her off? Nah, she's my best friend… So confession time it is. Again…
"I've noticed you glancing at him a lot lately. You want to talk about it?"
"I…erm…I don't really know."
"Do you have feelings for him?"
"I…I dunno, Mione. All I know is that I suddenly started seeing how good looking he was…"
"Are you attracted to him? Do you LOVE him?" she asked.
"I don't know what to tell you… I mean I'm really confused about this myself, so I can't even begin to explain it to you…I'm attracted to him, but I certainly don't love him…. he may be HOT, but that doesn't change that he's a right bastard!" Hermione nodded sympathetically as Harry went on.
"Besides, it's not as if anything will ever happen, right? I mean no matter how I feel, he's on the other side and hates me…"
"You know that I hate to quote an cliché, but love and hate are two sides of the same coin. Look how passionate you two are when you fight, then imagine what would happen if you turned that passion to love! Wow!"
Harry raised his eyebrows and grinned. He didn't want to reveal to Hermione the images that *that* had brought to mind! Wanting to change the topic, he turned to Hermione and asked:
"Mione, can I ask you a personal question?"
"Sure, go ahead…I guess I have asked you enough that I deserve it!"
"Why did you put your name in the Lantern of Lurve?"
"How did you know that I put it in?"
"You didn't look surprised when Dumbledore announced your name. So why did you do it?"
She shifted uncomfortably. "You are probably going to think that I'm pretty dumb…"
"Trust me – one thing I would *never* think about you is that you are dumb!"
"I thought… perhaps…I should do *something* before I graduate that doesn't involve study! Besides, I thought it might make me more popular… It's probably stupid, but everyone knows and likes you and Ron, so I thought maybe this would…" She trailed off. Harry smiled at her encouragingly.
"I understand. And for what it's worth, I think that what you are doing takes guts. You're very brave, and definitely not stupid!"
She smiled shyly. "Thanks, Harry. Your support means a lot to me. I don't think Ron agrees with you though!"
"I'm sure he does… he just hasn't quite realised it yet!"
She giggled. "Yeah, that's our Ron!"
Harry smiled. "I know that you love him just the way he is."
Hermione blushed. "You're too smart for your own good, Mr Potter! There was one other thing though…promise me you won't laugh?"
"Of course!"
"I was hoping that maybe if I get involved in the auction, it will help improve my chances of being prefect next year." Because of the increased dangers this year, Professor Dumbledore had declared that prefects would be selected from sixth and seventh years, not from the fifth years as in previous years.
"Good on you, Hermione. But you know that we'll be proud of you no matter what."
"Of course. But it's just something that I'd really like to do. You won't tell Ron, will you? I just don't think he'd understand. [1]"
"No problems, Hermione."
At that moment, Harry was dragged away by Seamus, who had been giggling with Neville and Dean for the past 10 minutes, and Hermione was left to her own thoughts in the corner of the common room.
[1] *sings* And if you tell my Ron, my achy breaky Ron, he might blow up and kill this man, wooo! Ok, if you don't understand that, don't worry. It just means that I'm too old compared to the teenyboppers of today! *lol* (No offence intended!)
*** Apologies for the song. One of the NZ guys has the surname Styris, and is nicknamed "Billy Ray", and whenever he came out to bowl yesterday I started singing… It's been stuck in my head all day! *shudders*. Hope it gets stuck in your head too! *grins evilly*
Author's Notes: A big thank you section for today!
Lothlorien – Yes, Harry will be a popular item at the auction! But there can ultimately be only one winner…. Who will it be? *grins mysteriously*
Mandraco – Pansy has her reasons… they shall be revealed in due course!
Zombie-miho – attached to me? Erm... ok then… might look a bit odd though!
**** - Yes, NZ. Bugger. They lost again. I am crossing my fingers for SA to win tomorrow and then hopefully NZ can scrape into the finals. As long as Australia doesn't make it – arrogant pigs! (And yes, I am Australian!). Glad you like the story! I wish I could have a slave… It'd have to be Vettori! *drools*
Silverymoon – Draco will get his revenge for the pink teddy bear incident, but as for who buys Harry, you'll have to wait and see!
Twins of Destiny and Fate – I promise you that Ron and Neville are NOT going to get together in this story! I think that everyone writes Oliver as a hottie because of Sean Biggerstaff. I'm not going to deny that Sean is a cutie and played Wood well, but he's hardly "burly", is he?! Not what I had imagined whilst reading the book. Not complaining though – he was the best looker in the movie – also the only one whom I can perve on and not feel like a paedophile! *lol*
As I've said before, you'll have to wait and see who buys Harry!
Elijah's Cheeseho – erm… nice nickname! Please explain? Patience is indeed a virtue, but not one that I have much of! Hope that the wait wasn't too long…
Night Spirit – More twins coming up soon! *salutes* Seamus will be pulling out the Galleons, but who is he bidding for? And what's so wrong about girls? I'm sure Harry could handle going to the dance with one, but he'd be in trouble if they got the wrong idea!
HermioneHeidi – "We all know..."? Getting cocky are we? Much like a Malfoy! *lol*
Kaylin – Yay! Another Ron/Hermione fan! Thanks for the support!
DeadTwice – I don't think there are *that* many gay guys at Hogwarts! From what I've counted there are two gay and one possibly bi guy. Considering the average in the population is generally considered to be 10%, I didn't think that to be very high… Maybe just that the best guys are always gay? *grins*
Prophetess of Hearts – Thanks as always for the support and reviews!
Angelstar – I hope I made it up to you (and the rest of my faithful audience) with the last chapter…
Tasuki – Dumbledore made the no sexual favours rule for a number of reasons, most of which you can probably think of. But seriously, how many people would volunteer if there was a possibility that they might be forced to become Filch's sex slave? *lol*
Lilith – I'm glad you liked the discussion about the guys! I tried to base it on the discussions I have with my best friend. :o) And there is the distinct possibility of a direct Harry/someone pairing at some point in time… *winks*
Jess – Sorry that Harry has to be gay… I'm not very good at writing straight Harry *lol* I'll try! I think my next story will have a straight and slash version, but it'll take me ages to write!
To everyone who wanted Snape and Malfoy as slaves – sorry! I just couldn't see either of them volunteering. Too many people hate them! They'd be treated very badly. Besides, I think it's better with them as possible bidders! Just imagine how scared Harry will be, knowing that his enemy and the teacher that hates him have the power (the $$) to make him be at their bidding for 24 hours! Imagine what they could make him do! Aaahh, the possibilities… *sighs* Harry's going to be terrified by the time the auction comes around!
And finally, a very big thank you to EVERYONE who read, reviewed and supported my little story! :-D Thank you all!
To those who were worried about my suicide reference, thanks for the concern! I was only kidding, but it's nice to feel loved! Besides, why would I kill myself now? I studied my butt off for the past few weeks and that effort would have been wasted! I will at least wait until exam results come out (2 weeks *shudder*) and then reconsider my options! *lol* kidding! Anyway, if I fail my dad might just kill me…
Hehehe I made it to the cricket and it was GREAT! More on that on Tuesday – today's author's notes and thankyous are long enough as is… But for those of you who have no idea who I am drooling over, I will try and post his pic as my author's photo… And for those of you (Americans!) who have no idea what I am talking about when I mention cricket (no not the funny bouncing insect!) let me know in your review and I can try and explain it! :o)
Enjoy the story! Hopefully Chapter 7 will be out on Tuesday… Of course, I haven't actually written it yet… Minor detail! See you then!
Chapter Six – Gambling and Girly Gossip
He didn't know how he did it, but Harry managed to keep Hermione's secret. He couldn't help but chuckle every time he saw Hermione and Ron together. Their feelings about each other were obvious to everyone but them, and there were numerous betting pools around the school as to when exactly the two would get together. Harry himself had bet 1 galleon that they would become a couple in the fortnight preceding the Valentine's Ball, and he knew that Seamus and Dean had spent at least 3 galleons each betting on various times throughout the school year. What Harry couldn't understand was how neither Ron nor Hermione had noticed anything strange. Whispered conversations and strange glances followed them around, and still they were blissfully oblivious. For someone so smart, Hermione is fairly obtuse when it comes to matters of the heart Harry mused. And Ron, well he's just too scared of failing and not living up to what he thinks everyone expects of him to bite the bullet and make a move. Which leaves a potential relationship stuck in limbo. Harry sighed. He hoped that something would happen soon as all he wanted was for his friends to be happy. I wonder if there isn't some way we could speed things up there…?
Holidays crept up on Harry, and before long the corridors of Hogwarts were filled with students and their trunks, leaving Harry, Hermione, Neville and the Weasleys as practically the only occupants of the Gryffindor tower. A second year and two first years were also staying behind, but the second year was always studying, and the two first year girls were so shy that they never talked to Harry. He heard them giggling and gossiping a couple of times, so he knew that they weren't mute, but it seemed that every time he walked into a room they would both clam up completely.
Meanwhile, Ginny and Neville had become good friends. Ginny and Hermione had been good friends for quite a while, but since Hermione was so worried about the OWLs (and preoccupied with Ron), Ginny had made other friends. She was also a close friend of Colin Creevey, but since he and his brother Dennis had gone home for the holidays Ginny was spending much of her time with Neville. Fred and George were busy planning the Ball and the auction, with Harry contributing wherever possible. He strongly suspected that they were also spending time working on Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes, despite their promises to Mrs Weasley that they would study hard and not work on materials for the joke shop until after they graduate.
Harry was glad that Malfoy had gone home for the holidays. From what he had heard, Malfoy was still being taunted about his teddy bear. Harry on the other hand often found himself being accosted in the hallways, and being thanked by random Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws. The break from Malfoy's sneers and snide comments (and congratulations from strangers) was most welcome, in Harry's opinion.
The holidays flew by, filled with friendship, study and Ball and Auction preparations. The auction was almost completely organised, and the majority of the ball preparations were complete. The order for the auction of the slaves had been decided, and Lee Jordan had apparently been practising his auctioning skills all holidays. ("It's driving my mum up the wall!" he'd said in a Christmas owl to the twins.) The stage and its decorations had been prepared in the Great Hall, and by the time the new term commenced, the auction was all that anyone could talk about.
In the two weeks between the commencement of term and the auction, very little work was achieved at Hogwarts. Even Snape had sensed that he wasn't going to achieve much, and Potions class was much easier than normal. Unfortunately, this left more time for Malfoy to sneer and threaten Harry, which wasn't exactly Harry's idea of fun. On the plus side, it allowed Harry numerous opportunities to sneak a surreptitious glance at Draco, who in Harry's opinion was getting sexier by the day (although he would never admit this to anyone except for perhaps Hermione). After one particular Potions lesson, about 3 days before the day of the auction, the students hurried into the hall in their usual haphazard manner, eager to get out of the dungeons and away from Snape. As they left the dungeons, Malfoy pushed past Harry and Ron, causing Harry to go sprawling to the floor and Ron's books to scatter everywhere. Ron looked more annoyed than Harry had ever seen him.
"What the heck is your problem, Malfoy? Hurrying home to teddy?" He asked sarcastically.
"Why? You jealous?" Malfoy drawled. "After all, I'm sure your parents couldn't afford for you to have a teddy bear. But, don't worry, perhaps the Mudblood will offer to fill in for you? Or even Snotty Potty… I hear he…" Amused onlookers never got to find out what Malfoy had heard, however, as an enraged Weasley blushing bright red lunged at Malfoy. "Why you-!" His large hands reached out towards Malfoy's neck, his freckled hands a stark contrast to the pale creamy skin of Malfoy's neck. Luckily for Malfoy, Professor Snape appeared at that very moment and broke up the fight before it had even begun. Harry supposed that Snape had surfaced from the dingy dungeons to find out to where his next class had disappeared. Indeed, there was a large crowd gathered around, watching the unfolding situation with glee. Harry heard a seventh year Hufflepuff say to his friend "Well I am glad that horrible Malfoy kid finally got what was coming to him!"
In the end, Malfoy was not the one punished, as Snape was as unwilling as ever to punish a student from his own house. Malfoy got away without a scratch, whilst Ron was ordered to serve a detention. This proclamation was met with a chorus of booing from the assembled students, which was quickly quelled by a dirty look and a snarled "Get to class, all of you!" from Snape. Harry quickly stood up and dragged a still fuming Ron away, fearing that if they remained any longer, Snape would try to have Ron expelled. Halfway to Transfiguration Ron realised that his books were still scattered on the floor of the hallway, meaning that they had to double back and they ended up being very late. Professor McGonagall had obviously heard about the fight, as when the duo hurried into class and sat in their usual seats she didn't say a word.
Harry, Ron and Hermione managed to make it through the next 24 hours without getting into trouble, and after dinner Ron trudged off reluctantly to do his detention with Snape, leaving Harry and Hermione together in the common room. Things just weren't the same without Ron there, so Harry and Hermione packed away the wizard's chess set and curled up in the corner for a heart to heart.
"So…Harry…"
"Yeah Mione?"
"What's going on between you and Draco Malfoy then?"
"Huh?" Well she's certainly straight to the point… and right on the money. Darn! Should I fob her off? Nah, she's my best friend… So confession time it is. Again…
"I've noticed you glancing at him a lot lately. You want to talk about it?"
"I…erm…I don't really know."
"Do you have feelings for him?"
"I…I dunno, Mione. All I know is that I suddenly started seeing how good looking he was…"
"Are you attracted to him? Do you LOVE him?" she asked.
"I don't know what to tell you… I mean I'm really confused about this myself, so I can't even begin to explain it to you…I'm attracted to him, but I certainly don't love him…. he may be HOT, but that doesn't change that he's a right bastard!" Hermione nodded sympathetically as Harry went on.
"Besides, it's not as if anything will ever happen, right? I mean no matter how I feel, he's on the other side and hates me…"
"You know that I hate to quote an cliché, but love and hate are two sides of the same coin. Look how passionate you two are when you fight, then imagine what would happen if you turned that passion to love! Wow!"
Harry raised his eyebrows and grinned. He didn't want to reveal to Hermione the images that *that* had brought to mind! Wanting to change the topic, he turned to Hermione and asked:
"Mione, can I ask you a personal question?"
"Sure, go ahead…I guess I have asked you enough that I deserve it!"
"Why did you put your name in the Lantern of Lurve?"
"How did you know that I put it in?"
"You didn't look surprised when Dumbledore announced your name. So why did you do it?"
She shifted uncomfortably. "You are probably going to think that I'm pretty dumb…"
"Trust me – one thing I would *never* think about you is that you are dumb!"
"I thought… perhaps…I should do *something* before I graduate that doesn't involve study! Besides, I thought it might make me more popular… It's probably stupid, but everyone knows and likes you and Ron, so I thought maybe this would…" She trailed off. Harry smiled at her encouragingly.
"I understand. And for what it's worth, I think that what you are doing takes guts. You're very brave, and definitely not stupid!"
She smiled shyly. "Thanks, Harry. Your support means a lot to me. I don't think Ron agrees with you though!"
"I'm sure he does… he just hasn't quite realised it yet!"
She giggled. "Yeah, that's our Ron!"
Harry smiled. "I know that you love him just the way he is."
Hermione blushed. "You're too smart for your own good, Mr Potter! There was one other thing though…promise me you won't laugh?"
"Of course!"
"I was hoping that maybe if I get involved in the auction, it will help improve my chances of being prefect next year." Because of the increased dangers this year, Professor Dumbledore had declared that prefects would be selected from sixth and seventh years, not from the fifth years as in previous years.
"Good on you, Hermione. But you know that we'll be proud of you no matter what."
"Of course. But it's just something that I'd really like to do. You won't tell Ron, will you? I just don't think he'd understand. [1]"
"No problems, Hermione."
At that moment, Harry was dragged away by Seamus, who had been giggling with Neville and Dean for the past 10 minutes, and Hermione was left to her own thoughts in the corner of the common room.
[1] *sings* And if you tell my Ron, my achy breaky Ron, he might blow up and kill this man, wooo! Ok, if you don't understand that, don't worry. It just means that I'm too old compared to the teenyboppers of today! *lol* (No offence intended!)
*** Apologies for the song. One of the NZ guys has the surname Styris, and is nicknamed "Billy Ray", and whenever he came out to bowl yesterday I started singing… It's been stuck in my head all day! *shudders*. Hope it gets stuck in your head too! *grins evilly*
Author's Notes: A big thank you section for today!
Lothlorien – Yes, Harry will be a popular item at the auction! But there can ultimately be only one winner…. Who will it be? *grins mysteriously*
Mandraco – Pansy has her reasons… they shall be revealed in due course!
Zombie-miho – attached to me? Erm... ok then… might look a bit odd though!
**** - Yes, NZ. Bugger. They lost again. I am crossing my fingers for SA to win tomorrow and then hopefully NZ can scrape into the finals. As long as Australia doesn't make it – arrogant pigs! (And yes, I am Australian!). Glad you like the story! I wish I could have a slave… It'd have to be Vettori! *drools*
Silverymoon – Draco will get his revenge for the pink teddy bear incident, but as for who buys Harry, you'll have to wait and see!
Twins of Destiny and Fate – I promise you that Ron and Neville are NOT going to get together in this story! I think that everyone writes Oliver as a hottie because of Sean Biggerstaff. I'm not going to deny that Sean is a cutie and played Wood well, but he's hardly "burly", is he?! Not what I had imagined whilst reading the book. Not complaining though – he was the best looker in the movie – also the only one whom I can perve on and not feel like a paedophile! *lol*
As I've said before, you'll have to wait and see who buys Harry!
Elijah's Cheeseho – erm… nice nickname! Please explain? Patience is indeed a virtue, but not one that I have much of! Hope that the wait wasn't too long…
Night Spirit – More twins coming up soon! *salutes* Seamus will be pulling out the Galleons, but who is he bidding for? And what's so wrong about girls? I'm sure Harry could handle going to the dance with one, but he'd be in trouble if they got the wrong idea!
HermioneHeidi – "We all know..."? Getting cocky are we? Much like a Malfoy! *lol*
Kaylin – Yay! Another Ron/Hermione fan! Thanks for the support!
DeadTwice – I don't think there are *that* many gay guys at Hogwarts! From what I've counted there are two gay and one possibly bi guy. Considering the average in the population is generally considered to be 10%, I didn't think that to be very high… Maybe just that the best guys are always gay? *grins*
Prophetess of Hearts – Thanks as always for the support and reviews!
Angelstar – I hope I made it up to you (and the rest of my faithful audience) with the last chapter…
Tasuki – Dumbledore made the no sexual favours rule for a number of reasons, most of which you can probably think of. But seriously, how many people would volunteer if there was a possibility that they might be forced to become Filch's sex slave? *lol*
Lilith – I'm glad you liked the discussion about the guys! I tried to base it on the discussions I have with my best friend. :o) And there is the distinct possibility of a direct Harry/someone pairing at some point in time… *winks*
Jess – Sorry that Harry has to be gay… I'm not very good at writing straight Harry *lol* I'll try! I think my next story will have a straight and slash version, but it'll take me ages to write!
To everyone who wanted Snape and Malfoy as slaves – sorry! I just couldn't see either of them volunteering. Too many people hate them! They'd be treated very badly. Besides, I think it's better with them as possible bidders! Just imagine how scared Harry will be, knowing that his enemy and the teacher that hates him have the power (the $$) to make him be at their bidding for 24 hours! Imagine what they could make him do! Aaahh, the possibilities… *sighs* Harry's going to be terrified by the time the auction comes around!
And finally, a very big thank you to EVERYONE who read, reviewed and supported my little story! :-D Thank you all!
