Well, allow me to welcome all of you to Part 4 of Harry Potter and The
Scholar of Mystery. Before I begin, a number of people have asked me why
Matt's name changed from Chapter 1 to Chapter 2. Well, allow me to say
that the change was intentional. The reason? Well, you'll just have to
wait and see! What am I forgetting? . . ah, yes!
Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter and his merry band of witches and wizards. The rights currently belong to numerous interests including Scholastic Inc. Books, Warner Bros. Pictures, and J.K. Rowling herself. Once again, the offer to aid Mrs. Rowling in her further literary excursions remains on the table. After all, from what I've heard, it seems that she needs some new ideas.
Chapter 4- Prelude to Romance?
Matt was whistling an unknown tune as he strolled out of the shower in the fourth-year boys dorm, harshly running a towel through his damp, brown hair. He bounded towards a window and let the pale winter sunlight into the dark dormitory. The sight of freshly fallen December snow on the lush forest surrounding the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry was an almost intoxicating sight to him.
"Shut those bloody blinds, you stupid prat."
Of course, not everyone shared his enthusiasm.
The grouchy, sleep-slurred voice belonged to Terry Boot, the only other occupant of the boy's fourth-year dorm in Ravenclaw. Terry was one of the brightest students that Hogwarts had seen in well over a decade. His raw intelligence nearly rivaled Hermione's and his work in Potions could even confuse Matt and his ability in Herbology and Charms was something you had to see to believe. Yes, Terry Boot was many things, but he was hardly a morning lark.
"Come on, Terry!" Matt chirped. "It's a beautiful day outside."
"And I'll enjoy the beautiful day where it's nice and warm!" Terry said with irritation, pulling his blue wool blanket over his eyes to hide from the intruding light.
"Ah, you're just a party pooper!" Matt said as he slid on one of his school sweaters and a pair of blue jeans. "You want me to get you something to eat while I'm at the dining hall?"
"Matt, all I want is for you to leave me alone so I can get some decent rest!"
"Don't blame me for your crankiness, Terry. This is what you get when you try to memorize your school books!" Matt said in an authoritative tone that sounded much like Hermione. "Honestly, am I going to have to find you a girlfriend?"
Terry now had his wand pointed directly at Matt, a furious and determined look in his eyes.
"Name a hex, Matt. I'll see if I can use it on you."
"All right, all right," Matt said unfazed. "Get some sleep, buddy. You've got an hour before class starts!"
"Yeah, yeah." Terry said, placing his wand back on his nightstand and turning his back away from Matt. It was a routine that the two of them have performed since their first year. And, like on most occasions, Terry had fallen asleep just after Matt closed the door.
A sparse number of students were scattered about the Ravenclaw common room, most of them either coming from or going to the dining room for breakfast. The Ravenclaw common room was quite different from its Gryffindor counterpart. A small fire was flickering in the sparsely decorated fireplace while some students did some last-minute homework while sitting in straight-back wooden chairs. The Ravenclaw common room was not a place for comfort. It almost seemed to be a monument dedicated to scholarly endeavors. Before he could take any more of the atmosphere in, however, a pair of warm hands covered his eyes.
"Guess who," a mischievous sing-songy voice asked.
"You-Know-Who?"
"Not even close."
"A rather tall house-elf?"
"Don't insult me."
"A naked Fleur Delaclour?"
"Now you're just dreaming!"
Deciding to end the little game, Matt took hold of the girl's wrists and pried them away from his face. Turning around quickly, he was greeted with the vision of a young woman with honey-blond hair and sparkling jade- colored eyes. Her face was framed with an impish smile as she moved to give him an almost viciously friendly hug.
"Nice to see you too, Mandy." Matt choked out.
Mandy Brocklehurst was a fellow fourth-year student who had known Matt even before he went to Hogwarts. Like Matt, she possessed a cheery exterior but mostly remained a loner. She was also one of the few people that he would trust with some of his most valued secrets.
"I haven't seen you in a while, pal," Mandy said as she let go of her embrace and lightly punched the young man in the shoulder. "You've been hanging around with Harry Potter again, huh? You're not trying to rubberneck the fame of The Boy Who Lived, are you?"
"I'll have you know that I can become infamous by my own means!" Matt said with a mock look of insult on his face.
"Just try not to lose too many house points while you're doing it, young man," said another voice.
Matt and Mandy whirled around to view the translucent figure of the Grey Lady, the Ravenclaw house ghost. A traditional blue Ravenclaw robe was draped around the ghost's pale countenance. Many of those outside of Ravenclaw thought of the Grey Lady as a moody spirit, one who seemed to fit with the seemingly business-like attitude that many people associated with Ravenclaws. In reality, she was quite compassionate and caring, always willing to give words of encouragement or advice to her wayward students. Matt and Mandy were, of course, no exception.
"Don't worry about me, milady!" Matt said as gave the Grey Lady a melodramatic bow. "I shant bring any shame upon the good name of Rowena Ravenclaw."
"Too little, too late." Mandy said flatly, to which the Grey Lady smirked and laughed.
"By the way, Matt," the Grey Lady said. "Professor McGonagall is awaiting you in her office."
"Bloody hell!" Matt said as he ran a nervous hand through his brown hair. "What on earth could this be about?"
"She's probably still mad at you for turning those Slytherins into pigs." Mandy answered.
"That was three weeks ago!" Matt shouted, throwing his hands up in frustration. "Can't she just forgive and forget?"
"I don't know, Matt," Mandy said evenly, "that trait doesn't seem to run in that bloodline."
Matt glared at Mandy as he slowly made his way out of the common room and towards Minerva McGonagall's office.
For Matt, the journey to Professor McGonagall's office was akin to marching to your own execution. Yyou didn't enjoy the ride over there and it certainly wouldn't get better when you get there. Once arriving at the heavy oak double doors with the Gryffindor symbol emblazoned upon them, Matt harshly banged his fists on them. Within moments, Minerva McGonagall had opened the door, her gray-brown hair seemingly flying about in every direction.
"Come inside, quickly." McGonagall said as she roughly shoved the boy into the office and placed him in the seat across from her desk.
"What is it this time?" Matt grumbled as McGonagall moved to sit in the opposite chair. "I haven't pulled any pranks lately!"
"That's not why you're here, young man. And as far as you not pulling any pranks, I'll believe that as soon as you can turn Malfoy back into a pig and get him to fly. I'm certain you've heard that the Yule Ball is in three days?" Minerva asked with a business-like tone. It seemed to Matt that Professor McGonagall was acting as if she was dealing with a lower life form.
"Yes," Matt said dully, folding his arms across his chest.
"And do you have a date?"
"I'm working on it," Matt answered, quite annoyed that his privacy was so quickly invaded. The two stared at each other like dueling gunmen, neither one daring to look away.
"Very well," she said as she picked up some loose papers and straightened them into a pile. "If you do not find someone to accompany you there I shall arrange one for your behalf. Do I make myself clear?"
"Yes, ma'am." Matt said flatly. "Crystal clear. Is there anything else you want to irritate me with?" Professor McGonagall simply ignored Matt's flippant remark.
"It's also come to my attention that you've been spending a great deal of time with some of my students. I hope you do not corrupt them with your complete lack of discipline." Matt frowned at such a low comment. It was enough to insult him, but he'd be damned if he allowed anyone to say something bad about his friends. Trying in vain to keep his anger in check, Matt slowly rose from his chair and put his hands on the professor's table, his sharp gaze never leaving McGonagall's eyes.
"I promise that I'm not doing anything to them that you can't ruin, old lady!"
"One more statement like that and you will be serving detention, young man!" McGonagall screeched, also rising to her seat in anger. "Now get out of my sight!"
"Whatever." Matt mumbled as he stalked his way out of the office.
"Don't let it get you down, Matt!" Ron said as he poured ketchup on his hash-browned potatoes. "If you want my advice. . ."
"I sincerely doubt that," Hermione said, causing Matt and Harry to nearly snort into their cereal.
"As I was saying before I was interrupted by this annoying shrew," Ron said pointing his fork at Hermione, "I think I'll help you spend the rest of the day looking for a date for the Yule Ball."
"Shouldn't you worry about getting yourself a date, Ron?" Harry said in exasperation.
"I am." Ron said with a smirk. "When Matt gets a date, he can hook me up with her pretty friend. That way I can kill two birds with one stone!"
"Anyway. . ." Matt said, trying to ignore Ron's horrible suggestion. "What about you two? Have you got dates for the Yule Ball?"
"Neville asked me yesterday," Hermione said dully while using her fork to play with her scrambled eggs. Neville was Neville Longbottom, one of Harry and Ron's roommates in the fourth-year boy's dorm. He was best known at Hogwarts for his unparalleled clumsiness and inability to perform the simplest of spells. He was a nice young man, but hardly the most viable candidate for a date.
"I found out that Cho was going out with Cedric Diggory," Harry said glumly. Harry had a crush on the Ravenclaw seeker ever since his first Quidditch match with her in third year. Harry had spent the better part of a week working up the nerve to ask the pretty young Ravenclaw out to the Yule Ball and was shattered when he discovered that she already had a date. It only made matters worse when he discovered that the person she was going with was Cedric Diggory, a sixth-year Hufflepuff who also happened to be one of Harry's rivals in the Triwizard Tournament.
"I honestly don't understand what she sees in him," Hermione said in reference to Cedric.
"Well, Hermione," Ron said with his mouth stuffed with porridge, "he is a very good Quidditch player."
"So what if he is?" Hermione said in an absurd tone. "Viktor Krum is a good Quidditch player and you don't see me fawning all over him!"
"But Cedric doesn't look like a river troll either," Matt mumbled.
"If Cho Chang can't see Harry for what he is," Hermione said raising her voice, "then she's not good enough for Harry!" The table remained quiet for a moment after Hermione finished speaking. Ron and Matt were too busy trying to hold in their laughter while Harry and Hermione were trying their best to avoid each other.
"And just who is good enough for Harry, Hermione?" Ron asked slyly.
"I'd say they make a wonderful little item, don't you think?" Matt added. "It reminds me of an old song. You remember the one I'm talking about, right Ron?
"Absolutely!" he responded, wrapping his right arm around Matt's shoulders. "Harry and Hermy, sittin' in a tree."
"That's enough!" Hermione snapped as Harry blushed profusely. "I'm going to the loo while you two fools try to repair what's left of your sanity!"
"Hermione," Matt said sweetly, "you know as well as we do that there's nothing left to repair."
Hermione threw her hands up in frustration and hastily stomped her way to the nearest bathroom, leaving an almost giddy Matt and Ron alone with a very quiet Harry Potter. The black-haired boy with the lightning-bolt shaped scar on his forehead gave a serious consideration towards jumping out of the nearest window. The long fall into the castle moat would surely be painful, but certainly not as dangerous as this.
"Say, Harry." Matt said, his smile still shining bright. "Why don't you ask Hermione to the ball?" Harry looked as if Matt had just asked him to kiss a Hungarian Horntail.
"Yeah, Harry." Ron said in complete agreement with Matt. "That way you could have a date to the ball that you could talk too and Hermione can get out of taking Neville."
"I don't know. . ." Harry said slowly, clearly wanting to avoid discussing the idea. "I don't want to give anymore for Rita Skeeter to write about her. Your mum already thinks that we've been going out for years, Ron."
"We're not asking you to marry her, Harry!" Matt said. "If anything, you should go out together just so you can throw it back into that git Skeeter's face!"
"And if Draco says anything bad about you two at the ball," Ron said with a smile, "Matt and I'll just beat the stuffing out of 'em!"
"You'd do that anyway," Harry told the two troublemakers.
"But this time we'd have a good reason to!" Matt said with a grin. "Come on, Harry! You wouldn't rather see Hermione out with Neville, would you?"
"Yeah, I've seen Neville dance. Hermione's feet doesn't deserve that kind of abuse," Ron said with mock seriousness. "And besides! You know she wouldn't look that bad if she put even a slice of effort into it." At that comment, Harry nearly spit into his porridge.
"If you think so highly of her, Ron, why don't you ask her out?" Harry said in a tone that was a mixture of shock, anger, and just a touch of nervous tension.
"Are you joking, Harry? She'd talk my ear off!"
"It doesn't help the fact that Harry is intelligent and you're just an obnoxious dope who never knows when to shut up." Matt said quietly.
"As if you're any different!" Ron spat back as Harry laughed. If anything, the argument had turned him away from being the center of attention.
"Anyway," Matt said, a bit reluctant to avoid insulting his red-headed friend further, "we just think it would be a good idea if you two went together to the Yule Ball."
"Indeed," Ron said, once again on the same course as his Ravenclaw friend. "In fact, we'll leave you two alone so you can have the proper atmosphere to ask her out. What do you say, Matt?"
"A smashing good idea, Ron! Let's head for Snape's dungeon so we can get our latest detention assignment!" Matt said as he and Ron gathered up the remains of their breakfasts and began to quickly march out of the Great Hall.
"Hey! Wait a minute!" Harry shouted to his two friends. However, even if they did hear the young man's cries, neither had given any indication that they had.
Several minutes later, Ron and Matt were making their way down to the dungeons to learn of their latest detention punishment. They had gotten in trouble for turning Pansy Parkinson's hair red and blue with one of Matt's potions a week ago and Professors McGonagall and Flitwick were more than happy to allow Professor Snape to decide their sentence. It seemed even colder in the dungeons these days, the brisk winter air seemingly pushing their way through the sturdy Hogwarts walls.
"You still think that it was a good idea to try out that potion on Pansy?" Ron asked while suppressing his shivering.
"Hey! I was just trying to show off my patriotism! Rule Britannia!"
Surprisingly, Ron didn't have anything to say to that. Soon enough, the two young boys had shifted over to another topic.
"Just whom are you taking out to the Yule Ball, Matt?" Ron asked. He had noticed that the Ravenclaw had shied away from the question the several occasions he had asked him and he was now determined to pry an answer from him.
"Well, I've been meaning to talk to you about that one, old buddy!"
"All right, then. So who's the unlucky girl?" Ron said, a bit too excited about the forthcoming answer.
"Well, Ron." Matt said in a very familiar slow tone as he turned away from Ron's attentive gaze. Matt always seemed to use it whenever he was about to say something that he would have liked better to be left unsaid. "I was going to ask you if it was okay to ask you sister out."
Ron didn't answer. In fact, he had stopped moving, leaving Matt to take a few moments to back up to face him.
"Um, Ron. Are you still there?"
Still no answer. Still no movement. Even Matt didn't think that the results would be this bad.
"Would you at least say something, Ron!" Matt yelled. Only then did Ron start to move, his head slowly turning and his eyes locking up with Matt's.
"You and my sister?" Ron asked flatly.
"Come on, Ron! What's wrong with me taking out your sister? I've seen her in the Care of Magical Creatures class. I taught her how to ride a hippogriff. She can take care of herself and I promise I won't do anything!"
"You turned Draco into a pig, you turned Pansy Parkinson's hair blue and red, and you sneak around Hogwarts all hours of the night. What makes you think I'm going to trust you with my sister!!"
Matt had been friends with Ron's little sister since the start of her third year. And, until this point, Matt had been smart enough to keep his friendship with the youngest Weasley a well-kept secret. The only person who knew about it was Hagrid, who allowed them to play with some of the creatures of the Forbidden Forest. If it was one thing that Ginny and Matt shared with one another it was their love for animals. Not to mention that Matt had a thing for redheads. He loved watching her auburn-red curls flutter about through the night winds. It had taken quite a bit of courage to ask Ron for permission and he certainly didn't like his chances after witnessing the initial reaction.
"Could you at least think about it, Ron?" Matt asked in a surprisingly shy manner.
"Forget it, Matt MacDougal! If I ever see you around my sister I'll see to it personally that you'll regret it."
Matt was about to offer his angry response towards Ron's outlandish threat but he was interrupted by a cold laugh behind him. Both Ron and Matt whirled around to spot a dozen Slytherins, headed by Draco Malfoy and Pansy Parkinson, staring at them with their wands drawn.
"Well, at least those two gits have gone off to bother somebody else!" Hermione said to Harry. She had returned from the loos just moments after Matt and Ron had made their exit from the Great Hall. Harry had been about to storm off after them until he spotted the bushy-haired bookworm. Of course, he wasn't about to leave Hermione alone in the Great Hall. Harry didn't view himself as the smartest guy around but he did know that you shouldn't leave a woman alone at the table.
It was ungentlemanly, after all.
"I mean, honestly, can you imagine what the Slytherins would say if they saw the two of us together at the Yule Ball? And that silly tart Rita Skeeter would just have a field day with it!"
"I can picture it right now!" Harry said while he took a swig of pumpkin juice. "Oh! Look at the poor Boy Who Lived and the keeper of his heart! Such a beautiful story!"
"Beautiful enough to make me friggin' vomit," Hermione muttered while Harry tried desperately to hold in his laughter. "And just what is so funny, Mr. Potter?" Harry took a couple of deep breaths before responding.
"It's just hilarious when you talk like that," Harry said smiling.
"Just be grateful that you are able to see me in such a manner," Hermione said haughtily. "I don't often extend this courtesy to members of the general public."
"Well, I'm honored, Mrs. Granger." Both of them were laughing at the ridiculously formal conversation they were having. It was such a far cry from the harsh insults and uproarious behavior that took place when Matt and Ron were with them. The moment was something that was only for them. A brief and unimportant moment perhaps, but a moment nonetheless.
"Of course," Harry said slowly, "I don't see anything wrong with having you as a date."
"Oh, I didn't mean it that way!" Hermione responded hastily, "It's just that it just seems silly for two friends to go out on a formal date just because we don't have anyone else to go out with."
"Absolutely!" Harry said with a tone that he hoped indicated a strong sense of finality. "I'm certain that we could get a date for the ball by our own efforts."
"Precisely!" Hermione said merrily, "Like I said before, if Cho Chang thinks Cedric Diggory is better than you then you're too good for her!"
"Thanks," Harry said, his prominent blush and shy smile once again resurfacing.
For some reason, Hermione always got a kick out of watching Harry smile. It was as if smiling was something he was trying to remember how to do. Indeed, after spending ten years with people like Vernon and Petunia Dursley, Hermione could hardly blame him. It wasn't as if she was some lovesick twit, however (she would never allow herself to stoop to such a state). She just liked watching Harry smile. That was it. No more. No less.
Hermione would have spent some time contemplating over her lack of romantic interest in Harry if she hadn't have caught something in the corner of her eye. Draco Malfoy seemed to be leading a group of about a dozen Slytherins out of the Great Hall. The fair-haired Slytherin seeker had a look of frightening determination with an intensity that could rarely be matched. Vincent Crabbe and Gregory Goyle, Draco's friends/bodyguards, were closely trailing behind him, both of them with their wands out. Hermione could smell trouble from a mile away, particularly when Draco Malfoy was the source of it, and this situation just reeked of it.
"Harry," Hermione whispered urgently, "where is Malfoy going?" It took Harry a few moments to spot Malfoy's entourage who had now exited the Great Hall.
"Looks like they're headed for Snape's dungeons," Harry said, his sharp, emerald eyes spotting the group's every move. Like Hermione, Harry had spotted the cold grin on Malfoy's face and it nearly sent chills down his spine. The last time he had seen that grin Draco had nearly framed Hagrid for a hippogriff bite he suffered in class.
"But, didn't Matt and Ron say they were going to the dungeons?" Hermione said, more of a realization than a question.
Without another word, Harry had taken his wand out of the pocket of his robes and rushed towards the dungeons with Hermione right on his heels.
"I don't see what's so wrong with your sister going with Matt, Weasel," Draco said with a gleam in his ice-blue eyes. "It's not like that little runt of a girl could do any better!"
"Maybe he could help your family pay for some better clothes!" Pansy Parkinson chimed in, her rat-like voice sounding like nails on a chalkboard to Matt. Matt had calmly grabbed the hem of Ron's wizard robes to prevent the hotheaded Gryffindor from charging the whole lot of Slytherins.
"I liked you better when you were a pig, Malfoy," Matt said calmly. "At least then you didn't act like such an asshole."
"Pretty brave when they've got us outnumbered!" Ron shouted in defiance, his previous conflict with Matt now long forgotten.
"Big words from little fools," Malfoy said coolly. "I hope you enjoyed those little pranks you two have pulled against us, because you're about to be paid back in spades."
"We've got you outnumbered six-to-one. What makes you think you can beat us! Nobody's going to interrupt us down here."
As much as Matt hated to admit it, Draco was quite right. Snape didn't start Potions classes until 11 o'clock on Fridays and it was only 9:30 when they had left the Great Hall. Matt figured that he and Ron, under normal circumstance, could have at least held off the Slytherins until someone broke it up at another time, but they had little chance of escaping unscathed now.
"These walls are quite soundproof Weasel," Draco said continuing his taunting. "You're free to scream for your fat-arse mum as much as you want." All of the Slytherins howled with laughter at Ron's furious face. Matt now had to use both arms to hold back the enraged Gryffindor. After a bit of rustling between the two, Ron settled down and hastily pulled out his wand.
"If it's a fight you want Malfoy, then it's a fight you'll get!" he said while Matt followed suit beside him.
'If we're gonna get burned,' Matt thought, 'the least we could do is give them some scars to remember us by.'
In response, Malfoy simply shrugged his shoulders. "If that's how you want it. Get them!"
"Hold it right there Malfoy!"
Draco wheeled around and was greeted by the determined scowls of Harry and Hermione, each of them with their wands at the ready.
"Typical strategy for you, Malfoy," Hermione said coldly, "let's see you take on all four of us." Draco nearly spat on the ground in frustration.
"I've always wanted to hex you mudblood. Now I'm going to get my chance. Cremare!"
A white-hot bolt of fire streamed out of Draco's wand, heading straight for Harry. Before Harry could even react, Hermione had snagged the hem of Harry's robes and yanked him out of the way of the blast, missing him by inches. Matt had taken the interlude to hit Pansy Parkinson with a Full-Body Bind while Ron searched for some adequate cover in the Potions laboratory that Malfoy and his gang had caught up to them. Malfoy, now realizing that his foes had unknowingly put him in a pincer position, barked orders to Crabbe, Goyle, and Draco's friends on the Slytherin Quidditch team to take cover.
The Slytherins may have outnumbered Ron, Matt, Harry, and Hermione, but it was often the quality of the magician rather than the quantity that won the day. Only Malfoy himself could match Harry and Matt's sheer agility and battle instinct. They proved it by darting about the room, frustrating the Slytherins with their evasive antics. Hermione's knowledge of offensive charms was second-to-none among the students at Hogwarts. While Harry and Matt attracted a majority of the Slytherins' attention, Hermione had already used this knowledge to take down a majority of the Slytherins with the use of well-placed hexes. Ron, although not possessing the physical or intellectual gifts, simply relied on his own hatred of Malfoy to see him through. After several minutes of fierce battling, the only Slytherins that were able to battle were Crabbe, Goyle, and Malfoy.
The two brutes, obviously believing that brawn would serve better than brains in this instance, both dropped their wands and, making troll-like battle cries, charged headlong towards Ron and Matt. Matt simply pointed his wand to the ground.
"Tremoris!" he cried as his wand gave off a bright orange glow. Upon saying the words, the entire dungeon began to shake causing the two husky Slytherins to stumble and crash onto the hard, stone floor. Ron immediately followed suit by using a Tickling charm on them to impair Crabbe and Goyle further. Malfoy, seeing that he was the only Slytherin still standing, did the only thing that came to his mind.
"Stupefy!" Malfoy cried while aiming his wand at Hermione. A blinding flash of red light was now screaming towards Hermione.
"Stupefy!" Hermione countered, sending her own stream of red-hot light out of her wand, colliding with Malfoy's. For the briefest of moments, the two rivals eyes were both locked solely on their duel, a true contest against wizards. The power of the two spells seemed to create their own fireworks display in the dimly lit dungeon.
"You're not going to win mudblood!" Draco screamed in defiance, the sweat on his forehead sliding down his chiseled face.
"She doesn't have to beat you, Malfoy." Harry said evenly.
WHAP!
In the midst of the duel, Matt had snuck behind Malfoy and delivered a double axe-handle, causing Malfoy to topple like a sack of meal. The instant Matt had made contact, the beam from Malfoy's wand sputtered into nothing, causing Hermione to break her hex moments after. The clamor that had invaded the dungeon only several minutes ago was now reduced to the wild laughter of Crabbe and Goyle, both of whom were still very under Ron's magic.
"Are you two all right?" Harry asked from the staircase leading into the dungeon.
"Thanks to you two we are," Matt said gratefully, "that's another one I owe you."
"Think nothing of it," Hermione said slyly as she pocketed her wand. "You can pay us back by thinking of a good way to dispose of Malfoy here."
"Perhaps you should place him under my care," came a slow drawl from behind the students causing all the three Gryffindors and one Ravenclaw to jump. There was good reason to be alarmed, for the voice belonged to the pallid-faced Severus Snape.
"We're in trouble now, aren't we?" Ron whispered to Matt.
"Silence, Weasley!" Snape barked as he turned his attentions to his students, most of whom had broad smiles on their faces despite the various curses and spells they had been placed under. Without speaking to anyone, Severus pulled out his own wand and pointed it at Draco.
"Eneverate," he said tonelessly while a wave of green light emerged from his wand and surrounded the unconscious flaxen-haired Slytherin. Within moments, Draco was once again awake, albeit with a horrible headache. However, for all the pain Draco was experiencing, it was all worth it to him for seeing the frightened expressions on his enemies' faces. Meanwhile, Severus was stalking about the room, performing various counter-curses against the other Slytherins, not saying a single unnecessary word. Once that work was done, Snape's hawk-like eyes swiftly turned to meet the eyes of nearly everyone in the room.
"I'm quite disappointed in you," Snape said maintaining his unhurried burring.
"We're very sorry about this Professor. . ." Hermione said in an amazingly quick fashion.
"I wasn't talking to you Granger!" Snape said, his voice only slightly louder. "I was talking to Malfoy." Malfoy, to his credit, looked as if he had just heard Snape ask to marry Harry.
"Me?" he asked bewildered.
"You had these students outnumbered three-to-one and you couldn't even scratch them. You should've been well aware that these two fools would have come to their aid," Snape said while pointing to Harry and Hermione, never laying his eyes off Malfoy. "A truly pathetic display of tactics and a complete lapse of judgment under fire." Draco couldn't even get a word out of his mouth in response.
"Thirty points from Slytherin." Snape said turning away from Malfoy. Everyone in the room was now completely bewildered. Snape taking away points from his own house was like Harry fighting alongside Voldemort himself. It just didn't happen.
"But, Professor Snape," Pansy Parkinson stuttered.
"Would you prefer I make it fifty, Miss Parkinson? Now get out of my sight, all of you!" As if they were all just turned on by some imaginary switch, each of the dozen Slytherins hurriedly picked themselves up and hustled upstairs. Harry and Hermione were about to see if they could do the same thing until a nasty look in Snape's eyes rooted them to their spots. As soon as all the Slytherins had made their exit, Snape continued again.
"As for you all, allow me to congratulate you on a job well done." Snape said with an even smirk.
"Thank you very much, Professor." Harry said in disbelief.
"So much so that I am only going to take off fifty points from both of your houses." This punishment quickly sent the four students rushing back into reality. "Get out of my dungeons before I expel all of you."
Harry, Matt, Ron, and Hermione rushed out of the dungeons and back into the Great Hall with no further prompting.
"It will take weeks to make up for the points we lost!" Hermione hollered as she and Harry made their way back to the Gryffindor Common Room after several hours of studying in the library.
"Cheer up, Hermione!" Harry said merrily. "At least it was for a good cause."
"Laying waste to the Slytherin fourth-year students is hardly what I would call a good cause."
"Well," Harry said warily, "would you like me to make it up to you?" Hermione abruptly stopped upon hearing that.
"What do you mean, Harry?"
"What I mean was that, um, how about we just go to the Yule Ball together? You know, if that's okay with you." Hermione's coffee-brown eyes were hard pressed to stay their normal size.
"Well, if you insist. Why not?" Hermione answered, for once not really knowing the correct answer to a question.
"You sure it wouldn't be too much trouble?" Harry asked.
"Not at all Harry! What are friends for?" Hermione said quickly, hoping that Harry didn't catch her hands that were shaking like a leaf in a rainstorm. By now, the two had not even noticed that they had arrived at the portrait of the Fat Lady, who had a very intrigued look on her plump face.
"Escorting the young lady on a moonlit stroll, Mr. Potter?" the Fat Lady asked with a cheeky grin causing Harry and Hermione to both blush profusely.
"Not at all, madam," Hermione said crossly, although Hermione couldn't really understand why she spoke to her in such a tone. "Balderdash."
"Fair enough," the Fat Lady said with a wave of her hand as she moved aside for the two friends to enter the Gryffindor Common Room.
"Well, I suppose I'll see you tomorrow, Harry." Hermione said with a bashful grin, "Good night."
"Good night." Harry whispered.
Meanwhile, our two other heroes were engaging in somewhat less innocent activities at The Three Broomsticks with the help of Harry's invisibility cloak and about two-dozen glasses of butterbeer.
"Ya shoulda seen the way we 'andled 'em blokes," Ron slurred to Madam Rosmerta, who was the only person that had bothered to pay attention to the two youths for the last hour. "Knocked 'em right on their arses!"
"I believe you, Ronald," Madam Rosmerta in a tone that obviously indicated otherwise. "So, do you two have dates for the Yule Ball coming up?"
"'Fraid not," Matt said dismally, his head still slumped onto the table.
"Women are foolish, I tell ya'" Ron said while he launched a clumsy punch toward Matt's shoulder. "I mean, honestly! Two perfectly good- looking fellows with no dates a week before the ball!"
"I just can't imagine why," Madam Rosmerta added dryly while she polished several empty glass tankards. However, the sarcasm was missed by Matt and Ron, who were too wrapped up in their own sorrows to pay attention to anyone else.
"And what about Harry?" Madam Rosmerta asked quietly, "does he have a lady for the ball." Only then did Matt feel the need to rise up from the table and give a bleary glare towards her.
"Don't start about 'Arry!" Matt garbled. "We set 'im up with Herm- own-ninny!" Ron once again punched Matt in the shoulder.
"That's not her name! It's 'Her-my-oh-nee'! 'Onestly Matt. You can't pronenciate properly!" Madam Rosmerta, who had quite a bit of experience in dealing with young love-starved wizards, simply decided to ignore their stupidity.
"Harry and Hermione would make such a darling couple," Madam Rosmerta said with a smile as she prepared a butterbeer for one of the goblins sitting at the bar.
"THAT'S WHAT I SAID!" Matt and Ron said at the same time. Then they both glared at each other and started to argue over who truly thought that Harry and Hermione would make a good couple. After two minutes of a truly stirring display of argumentative prowess, Matt and Ron were back to their original topic; who was the most attractive girl at Hogwarts. Madam Rosmerta simply shook her head in response to the bizarre pair.
'Those two seem so much like James and Sirius,' Rosmerta thought wistfully.
"Well, I personally think that Lavender is better looking than Parvati," Ron said as if he were discussing the decay of human morality.
"Please!" Matt said while he took a swig of his butterbeer. "Parvati's arse is ten times better lookin' than Lavendar's."
"The only reason you think that is because you just don't have good taste," Ron shouted.
"Well, at least I wasn't stupid enough to ask Fluer Delaclour out to the ball!" Matt hissed while Ron's ears turned an amazingly bright shade of red. "Honestly, you stupid prat, what were you thinking?"
"Well, what about Hermione?" Madam Rosmerta asked simply. Matt and Ron looked as if they had both been forced to swallow a gallon of cod-liver oil.
"That's disgusting!" Matt yelled.
"I agree, ol' buddy!" Ron said vigorously. "I just don't see what Harry sees in her."
"But didn't the two of you convince Harry to ask Hermoine out?" Madam Rosmerta asked with her eyebrows raised. It took quite a while for either Ron or Matt to summon the amount of brain cells to provide an answer to the question.
"Well, that just, um, got's nothing to do wit' it!" Matt answered.
"Yeah!" Ron shouted in response.
"Anyway. . ." Matt said as he placed his tenth tankard of butterbeer back on the wooden bar table. "Do you want to know who I really think is cute?"
"Who's 'at?" Ron asked hazily.
"Ginny."
Ron's eleventh tankard of butterbeer fell to the floor with an angry crash while his face turned a disturbing tint of scarlet.
"STAY AWAY FROM MY SISTER!" Ron howled as he chased Matt out of The Three Broomsticks and into the Hogsmeade night, drawing quite a bit of attention from the other patrons.
'Too much like James and Sirius,' Madam Rosmerta thought as she calmly picked up a stray broom and went to work on Ron's broken tankard.
Well, that's the end of the chapter and I'm quite pleased the results. Of course, my ever-friendly readers are more than welcome to agreeing or disagreeing with me. And, no, I am not planning on turning this into a romance piece. The mere thought of doing such a thing makes me shudder. Well, before I forget, let me do the preview for the next chapter.
It's Christmas time at Hogwarts and that means it's time for the Yule Ball! Harry and Hermione are set to go out, but are they going as just friends or something more? And what about Ron and Matt? Will they be able to recover from their stupor to get their shit together and get a date? Find out the answers to these and more in the next installment of Harry Potter and The Scholar of Mystery, Fun Times at the Yule Ball. Don't miss it!
Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter and his merry band of witches and wizards. The rights currently belong to numerous interests including Scholastic Inc. Books, Warner Bros. Pictures, and J.K. Rowling herself. Once again, the offer to aid Mrs. Rowling in her further literary excursions remains on the table. After all, from what I've heard, it seems that she needs some new ideas.
Chapter 4- Prelude to Romance?
Matt was whistling an unknown tune as he strolled out of the shower in the fourth-year boys dorm, harshly running a towel through his damp, brown hair. He bounded towards a window and let the pale winter sunlight into the dark dormitory. The sight of freshly fallen December snow on the lush forest surrounding the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry was an almost intoxicating sight to him.
"Shut those bloody blinds, you stupid prat."
Of course, not everyone shared his enthusiasm.
The grouchy, sleep-slurred voice belonged to Terry Boot, the only other occupant of the boy's fourth-year dorm in Ravenclaw. Terry was one of the brightest students that Hogwarts had seen in well over a decade. His raw intelligence nearly rivaled Hermione's and his work in Potions could even confuse Matt and his ability in Herbology and Charms was something you had to see to believe. Yes, Terry Boot was many things, but he was hardly a morning lark.
"Come on, Terry!" Matt chirped. "It's a beautiful day outside."
"And I'll enjoy the beautiful day where it's nice and warm!" Terry said with irritation, pulling his blue wool blanket over his eyes to hide from the intruding light.
"Ah, you're just a party pooper!" Matt said as he slid on one of his school sweaters and a pair of blue jeans. "You want me to get you something to eat while I'm at the dining hall?"
"Matt, all I want is for you to leave me alone so I can get some decent rest!"
"Don't blame me for your crankiness, Terry. This is what you get when you try to memorize your school books!" Matt said in an authoritative tone that sounded much like Hermione. "Honestly, am I going to have to find you a girlfriend?"
Terry now had his wand pointed directly at Matt, a furious and determined look in his eyes.
"Name a hex, Matt. I'll see if I can use it on you."
"All right, all right," Matt said unfazed. "Get some sleep, buddy. You've got an hour before class starts!"
"Yeah, yeah." Terry said, placing his wand back on his nightstand and turning his back away from Matt. It was a routine that the two of them have performed since their first year. And, like on most occasions, Terry had fallen asleep just after Matt closed the door.
A sparse number of students were scattered about the Ravenclaw common room, most of them either coming from or going to the dining room for breakfast. The Ravenclaw common room was quite different from its Gryffindor counterpart. A small fire was flickering in the sparsely decorated fireplace while some students did some last-minute homework while sitting in straight-back wooden chairs. The Ravenclaw common room was not a place for comfort. It almost seemed to be a monument dedicated to scholarly endeavors. Before he could take any more of the atmosphere in, however, a pair of warm hands covered his eyes.
"Guess who," a mischievous sing-songy voice asked.
"You-Know-Who?"
"Not even close."
"A rather tall house-elf?"
"Don't insult me."
"A naked Fleur Delaclour?"
"Now you're just dreaming!"
Deciding to end the little game, Matt took hold of the girl's wrists and pried them away from his face. Turning around quickly, he was greeted with the vision of a young woman with honey-blond hair and sparkling jade- colored eyes. Her face was framed with an impish smile as she moved to give him an almost viciously friendly hug.
"Nice to see you too, Mandy." Matt choked out.
Mandy Brocklehurst was a fellow fourth-year student who had known Matt even before he went to Hogwarts. Like Matt, she possessed a cheery exterior but mostly remained a loner. She was also one of the few people that he would trust with some of his most valued secrets.
"I haven't seen you in a while, pal," Mandy said as she let go of her embrace and lightly punched the young man in the shoulder. "You've been hanging around with Harry Potter again, huh? You're not trying to rubberneck the fame of The Boy Who Lived, are you?"
"I'll have you know that I can become infamous by my own means!" Matt said with a mock look of insult on his face.
"Just try not to lose too many house points while you're doing it, young man," said another voice.
Matt and Mandy whirled around to view the translucent figure of the Grey Lady, the Ravenclaw house ghost. A traditional blue Ravenclaw robe was draped around the ghost's pale countenance. Many of those outside of Ravenclaw thought of the Grey Lady as a moody spirit, one who seemed to fit with the seemingly business-like attitude that many people associated with Ravenclaws. In reality, she was quite compassionate and caring, always willing to give words of encouragement or advice to her wayward students. Matt and Mandy were, of course, no exception.
"Don't worry about me, milady!" Matt said as gave the Grey Lady a melodramatic bow. "I shant bring any shame upon the good name of Rowena Ravenclaw."
"Too little, too late." Mandy said flatly, to which the Grey Lady smirked and laughed.
"By the way, Matt," the Grey Lady said. "Professor McGonagall is awaiting you in her office."
"Bloody hell!" Matt said as he ran a nervous hand through his brown hair. "What on earth could this be about?"
"She's probably still mad at you for turning those Slytherins into pigs." Mandy answered.
"That was three weeks ago!" Matt shouted, throwing his hands up in frustration. "Can't she just forgive and forget?"
"I don't know, Matt," Mandy said evenly, "that trait doesn't seem to run in that bloodline."
Matt glared at Mandy as he slowly made his way out of the common room and towards Minerva McGonagall's office.
For Matt, the journey to Professor McGonagall's office was akin to marching to your own execution. Yyou didn't enjoy the ride over there and it certainly wouldn't get better when you get there. Once arriving at the heavy oak double doors with the Gryffindor symbol emblazoned upon them, Matt harshly banged his fists on them. Within moments, Minerva McGonagall had opened the door, her gray-brown hair seemingly flying about in every direction.
"Come inside, quickly." McGonagall said as she roughly shoved the boy into the office and placed him in the seat across from her desk.
"What is it this time?" Matt grumbled as McGonagall moved to sit in the opposite chair. "I haven't pulled any pranks lately!"
"That's not why you're here, young man. And as far as you not pulling any pranks, I'll believe that as soon as you can turn Malfoy back into a pig and get him to fly. I'm certain you've heard that the Yule Ball is in three days?" Minerva asked with a business-like tone. It seemed to Matt that Professor McGonagall was acting as if she was dealing with a lower life form.
"Yes," Matt said dully, folding his arms across his chest.
"And do you have a date?"
"I'm working on it," Matt answered, quite annoyed that his privacy was so quickly invaded. The two stared at each other like dueling gunmen, neither one daring to look away.
"Very well," she said as she picked up some loose papers and straightened them into a pile. "If you do not find someone to accompany you there I shall arrange one for your behalf. Do I make myself clear?"
"Yes, ma'am." Matt said flatly. "Crystal clear. Is there anything else you want to irritate me with?" Professor McGonagall simply ignored Matt's flippant remark.
"It's also come to my attention that you've been spending a great deal of time with some of my students. I hope you do not corrupt them with your complete lack of discipline." Matt frowned at such a low comment. It was enough to insult him, but he'd be damned if he allowed anyone to say something bad about his friends. Trying in vain to keep his anger in check, Matt slowly rose from his chair and put his hands on the professor's table, his sharp gaze never leaving McGonagall's eyes.
"I promise that I'm not doing anything to them that you can't ruin, old lady!"
"One more statement like that and you will be serving detention, young man!" McGonagall screeched, also rising to her seat in anger. "Now get out of my sight!"
"Whatever." Matt mumbled as he stalked his way out of the office.
"Don't let it get you down, Matt!" Ron said as he poured ketchup on his hash-browned potatoes. "If you want my advice. . ."
"I sincerely doubt that," Hermione said, causing Matt and Harry to nearly snort into their cereal.
"As I was saying before I was interrupted by this annoying shrew," Ron said pointing his fork at Hermione, "I think I'll help you spend the rest of the day looking for a date for the Yule Ball."
"Shouldn't you worry about getting yourself a date, Ron?" Harry said in exasperation.
"I am." Ron said with a smirk. "When Matt gets a date, he can hook me up with her pretty friend. That way I can kill two birds with one stone!"
"Anyway. . ." Matt said, trying to ignore Ron's horrible suggestion. "What about you two? Have you got dates for the Yule Ball?"
"Neville asked me yesterday," Hermione said dully while using her fork to play with her scrambled eggs. Neville was Neville Longbottom, one of Harry and Ron's roommates in the fourth-year boy's dorm. He was best known at Hogwarts for his unparalleled clumsiness and inability to perform the simplest of spells. He was a nice young man, but hardly the most viable candidate for a date.
"I found out that Cho was going out with Cedric Diggory," Harry said glumly. Harry had a crush on the Ravenclaw seeker ever since his first Quidditch match with her in third year. Harry had spent the better part of a week working up the nerve to ask the pretty young Ravenclaw out to the Yule Ball and was shattered when he discovered that she already had a date. It only made matters worse when he discovered that the person she was going with was Cedric Diggory, a sixth-year Hufflepuff who also happened to be one of Harry's rivals in the Triwizard Tournament.
"I honestly don't understand what she sees in him," Hermione said in reference to Cedric.
"Well, Hermione," Ron said with his mouth stuffed with porridge, "he is a very good Quidditch player."
"So what if he is?" Hermione said in an absurd tone. "Viktor Krum is a good Quidditch player and you don't see me fawning all over him!"
"But Cedric doesn't look like a river troll either," Matt mumbled.
"If Cho Chang can't see Harry for what he is," Hermione said raising her voice, "then she's not good enough for Harry!" The table remained quiet for a moment after Hermione finished speaking. Ron and Matt were too busy trying to hold in their laughter while Harry and Hermione were trying their best to avoid each other.
"And just who is good enough for Harry, Hermione?" Ron asked slyly.
"I'd say they make a wonderful little item, don't you think?" Matt added. "It reminds me of an old song. You remember the one I'm talking about, right Ron?
"Absolutely!" he responded, wrapping his right arm around Matt's shoulders. "Harry and Hermy, sittin' in a tree."
"That's enough!" Hermione snapped as Harry blushed profusely. "I'm going to the loo while you two fools try to repair what's left of your sanity!"
"Hermione," Matt said sweetly, "you know as well as we do that there's nothing left to repair."
Hermione threw her hands up in frustration and hastily stomped her way to the nearest bathroom, leaving an almost giddy Matt and Ron alone with a very quiet Harry Potter. The black-haired boy with the lightning-bolt shaped scar on his forehead gave a serious consideration towards jumping out of the nearest window. The long fall into the castle moat would surely be painful, but certainly not as dangerous as this.
"Say, Harry." Matt said, his smile still shining bright. "Why don't you ask Hermione to the ball?" Harry looked as if Matt had just asked him to kiss a Hungarian Horntail.
"Yeah, Harry." Ron said in complete agreement with Matt. "That way you could have a date to the ball that you could talk too and Hermione can get out of taking Neville."
"I don't know. . ." Harry said slowly, clearly wanting to avoid discussing the idea. "I don't want to give anymore for Rita Skeeter to write about her. Your mum already thinks that we've been going out for years, Ron."
"We're not asking you to marry her, Harry!" Matt said. "If anything, you should go out together just so you can throw it back into that git Skeeter's face!"
"And if Draco says anything bad about you two at the ball," Ron said with a smile, "Matt and I'll just beat the stuffing out of 'em!"
"You'd do that anyway," Harry told the two troublemakers.
"But this time we'd have a good reason to!" Matt said with a grin. "Come on, Harry! You wouldn't rather see Hermione out with Neville, would you?"
"Yeah, I've seen Neville dance. Hermione's feet doesn't deserve that kind of abuse," Ron said with mock seriousness. "And besides! You know she wouldn't look that bad if she put even a slice of effort into it." At that comment, Harry nearly spit into his porridge.
"If you think so highly of her, Ron, why don't you ask her out?" Harry said in a tone that was a mixture of shock, anger, and just a touch of nervous tension.
"Are you joking, Harry? She'd talk my ear off!"
"It doesn't help the fact that Harry is intelligent and you're just an obnoxious dope who never knows when to shut up." Matt said quietly.
"As if you're any different!" Ron spat back as Harry laughed. If anything, the argument had turned him away from being the center of attention.
"Anyway," Matt said, a bit reluctant to avoid insulting his red-headed friend further, "we just think it would be a good idea if you two went together to the Yule Ball."
"Indeed," Ron said, once again on the same course as his Ravenclaw friend. "In fact, we'll leave you two alone so you can have the proper atmosphere to ask her out. What do you say, Matt?"
"A smashing good idea, Ron! Let's head for Snape's dungeon so we can get our latest detention assignment!" Matt said as he and Ron gathered up the remains of their breakfasts and began to quickly march out of the Great Hall.
"Hey! Wait a minute!" Harry shouted to his two friends. However, even if they did hear the young man's cries, neither had given any indication that they had.
Several minutes later, Ron and Matt were making their way down to the dungeons to learn of their latest detention punishment. They had gotten in trouble for turning Pansy Parkinson's hair red and blue with one of Matt's potions a week ago and Professors McGonagall and Flitwick were more than happy to allow Professor Snape to decide their sentence. It seemed even colder in the dungeons these days, the brisk winter air seemingly pushing their way through the sturdy Hogwarts walls.
"You still think that it was a good idea to try out that potion on Pansy?" Ron asked while suppressing his shivering.
"Hey! I was just trying to show off my patriotism! Rule Britannia!"
Surprisingly, Ron didn't have anything to say to that. Soon enough, the two young boys had shifted over to another topic.
"Just whom are you taking out to the Yule Ball, Matt?" Ron asked. He had noticed that the Ravenclaw had shied away from the question the several occasions he had asked him and he was now determined to pry an answer from him.
"Well, I've been meaning to talk to you about that one, old buddy!"
"All right, then. So who's the unlucky girl?" Ron said, a bit too excited about the forthcoming answer.
"Well, Ron." Matt said in a very familiar slow tone as he turned away from Ron's attentive gaze. Matt always seemed to use it whenever he was about to say something that he would have liked better to be left unsaid. "I was going to ask you if it was okay to ask you sister out."
Ron didn't answer. In fact, he had stopped moving, leaving Matt to take a few moments to back up to face him.
"Um, Ron. Are you still there?"
Still no answer. Still no movement. Even Matt didn't think that the results would be this bad.
"Would you at least say something, Ron!" Matt yelled. Only then did Ron start to move, his head slowly turning and his eyes locking up with Matt's.
"You and my sister?" Ron asked flatly.
"Come on, Ron! What's wrong with me taking out your sister? I've seen her in the Care of Magical Creatures class. I taught her how to ride a hippogriff. She can take care of herself and I promise I won't do anything!"
"You turned Draco into a pig, you turned Pansy Parkinson's hair blue and red, and you sneak around Hogwarts all hours of the night. What makes you think I'm going to trust you with my sister!!"
Matt had been friends with Ron's little sister since the start of her third year. And, until this point, Matt had been smart enough to keep his friendship with the youngest Weasley a well-kept secret. The only person who knew about it was Hagrid, who allowed them to play with some of the creatures of the Forbidden Forest. If it was one thing that Ginny and Matt shared with one another it was their love for animals. Not to mention that Matt had a thing for redheads. He loved watching her auburn-red curls flutter about through the night winds. It had taken quite a bit of courage to ask Ron for permission and he certainly didn't like his chances after witnessing the initial reaction.
"Could you at least think about it, Ron?" Matt asked in a surprisingly shy manner.
"Forget it, Matt MacDougal! If I ever see you around my sister I'll see to it personally that you'll regret it."
Matt was about to offer his angry response towards Ron's outlandish threat but he was interrupted by a cold laugh behind him. Both Ron and Matt whirled around to spot a dozen Slytherins, headed by Draco Malfoy and Pansy Parkinson, staring at them with their wands drawn.
"Well, at least those two gits have gone off to bother somebody else!" Hermione said to Harry. She had returned from the loos just moments after Matt and Ron had made their exit from the Great Hall. Harry had been about to storm off after them until he spotted the bushy-haired bookworm. Of course, he wasn't about to leave Hermione alone in the Great Hall. Harry didn't view himself as the smartest guy around but he did know that you shouldn't leave a woman alone at the table.
It was ungentlemanly, after all.
"I mean, honestly, can you imagine what the Slytherins would say if they saw the two of us together at the Yule Ball? And that silly tart Rita Skeeter would just have a field day with it!"
"I can picture it right now!" Harry said while he took a swig of pumpkin juice. "Oh! Look at the poor Boy Who Lived and the keeper of his heart! Such a beautiful story!"
"Beautiful enough to make me friggin' vomit," Hermione muttered while Harry tried desperately to hold in his laughter. "And just what is so funny, Mr. Potter?" Harry took a couple of deep breaths before responding.
"It's just hilarious when you talk like that," Harry said smiling.
"Just be grateful that you are able to see me in such a manner," Hermione said haughtily. "I don't often extend this courtesy to members of the general public."
"Well, I'm honored, Mrs. Granger." Both of them were laughing at the ridiculously formal conversation they were having. It was such a far cry from the harsh insults and uproarious behavior that took place when Matt and Ron were with them. The moment was something that was only for them. A brief and unimportant moment perhaps, but a moment nonetheless.
"Of course," Harry said slowly, "I don't see anything wrong with having you as a date."
"Oh, I didn't mean it that way!" Hermione responded hastily, "It's just that it just seems silly for two friends to go out on a formal date just because we don't have anyone else to go out with."
"Absolutely!" Harry said with a tone that he hoped indicated a strong sense of finality. "I'm certain that we could get a date for the ball by our own efforts."
"Precisely!" Hermione said merrily, "Like I said before, if Cho Chang thinks Cedric Diggory is better than you then you're too good for her!"
"Thanks," Harry said, his prominent blush and shy smile once again resurfacing.
For some reason, Hermione always got a kick out of watching Harry smile. It was as if smiling was something he was trying to remember how to do. Indeed, after spending ten years with people like Vernon and Petunia Dursley, Hermione could hardly blame him. It wasn't as if she was some lovesick twit, however (she would never allow herself to stoop to such a state). She just liked watching Harry smile. That was it. No more. No less.
Hermione would have spent some time contemplating over her lack of romantic interest in Harry if she hadn't have caught something in the corner of her eye. Draco Malfoy seemed to be leading a group of about a dozen Slytherins out of the Great Hall. The fair-haired Slytherin seeker had a look of frightening determination with an intensity that could rarely be matched. Vincent Crabbe and Gregory Goyle, Draco's friends/bodyguards, were closely trailing behind him, both of them with their wands out. Hermione could smell trouble from a mile away, particularly when Draco Malfoy was the source of it, and this situation just reeked of it.
"Harry," Hermione whispered urgently, "where is Malfoy going?" It took Harry a few moments to spot Malfoy's entourage who had now exited the Great Hall.
"Looks like they're headed for Snape's dungeons," Harry said, his sharp, emerald eyes spotting the group's every move. Like Hermione, Harry had spotted the cold grin on Malfoy's face and it nearly sent chills down his spine. The last time he had seen that grin Draco had nearly framed Hagrid for a hippogriff bite he suffered in class.
"But, didn't Matt and Ron say they were going to the dungeons?" Hermione said, more of a realization than a question.
Without another word, Harry had taken his wand out of the pocket of his robes and rushed towards the dungeons with Hermione right on his heels.
"I don't see what's so wrong with your sister going with Matt, Weasel," Draco said with a gleam in his ice-blue eyes. "It's not like that little runt of a girl could do any better!"
"Maybe he could help your family pay for some better clothes!" Pansy Parkinson chimed in, her rat-like voice sounding like nails on a chalkboard to Matt. Matt had calmly grabbed the hem of Ron's wizard robes to prevent the hotheaded Gryffindor from charging the whole lot of Slytherins.
"I liked you better when you were a pig, Malfoy," Matt said calmly. "At least then you didn't act like such an asshole."
"Pretty brave when they've got us outnumbered!" Ron shouted in defiance, his previous conflict with Matt now long forgotten.
"Big words from little fools," Malfoy said coolly. "I hope you enjoyed those little pranks you two have pulled against us, because you're about to be paid back in spades."
"We've got you outnumbered six-to-one. What makes you think you can beat us! Nobody's going to interrupt us down here."
As much as Matt hated to admit it, Draco was quite right. Snape didn't start Potions classes until 11 o'clock on Fridays and it was only 9:30 when they had left the Great Hall. Matt figured that he and Ron, under normal circumstance, could have at least held off the Slytherins until someone broke it up at another time, but they had little chance of escaping unscathed now.
"These walls are quite soundproof Weasel," Draco said continuing his taunting. "You're free to scream for your fat-arse mum as much as you want." All of the Slytherins howled with laughter at Ron's furious face. Matt now had to use both arms to hold back the enraged Gryffindor. After a bit of rustling between the two, Ron settled down and hastily pulled out his wand.
"If it's a fight you want Malfoy, then it's a fight you'll get!" he said while Matt followed suit beside him.
'If we're gonna get burned,' Matt thought, 'the least we could do is give them some scars to remember us by.'
In response, Malfoy simply shrugged his shoulders. "If that's how you want it. Get them!"
"Hold it right there Malfoy!"
Draco wheeled around and was greeted by the determined scowls of Harry and Hermione, each of them with their wands at the ready.
"Typical strategy for you, Malfoy," Hermione said coldly, "let's see you take on all four of us." Draco nearly spat on the ground in frustration.
"I've always wanted to hex you mudblood. Now I'm going to get my chance. Cremare!"
A white-hot bolt of fire streamed out of Draco's wand, heading straight for Harry. Before Harry could even react, Hermione had snagged the hem of Harry's robes and yanked him out of the way of the blast, missing him by inches. Matt had taken the interlude to hit Pansy Parkinson with a Full-Body Bind while Ron searched for some adequate cover in the Potions laboratory that Malfoy and his gang had caught up to them. Malfoy, now realizing that his foes had unknowingly put him in a pincer position, barked orders to Crabbe, Goyle, and Draco's friends on the Slytherin Quidditch team to take cover.
The Slytherins may have outnumbered Ron, Matt, Harry, and Hermione, but it was often the quality of the magician rather than the quantity that won the day. Only Malfoy himself could match Harry and Matt's sheer agility and battle instinct. They proved it by darting about the room, frustrating the Slytherins with their evasive antics. Hermione's knowledge of offensive charms was second-to-none among the students at Hogwarts. While Harry and Matt attracted a majority of the Slytherins' attention, Hermione had already used this knowledge to take down a majority of the Slytherins with the use of well-placed hexes. Ron, although not possessing the physical or intellectual gifts, simply relied on his own hatred of Malfoy to see him through. After several minutes of fierce battling, the only Slytherins that were able to battle were Crabbe, Goyle, and Malfoy.
The two brutes, obviously believing that brawn would serve better than brains in this instance, both dropped their wands and, making troll-like battle cries, charged headlong towards Ron and Matt. Matt simply pointed his wand to the ground.
"Tremoris!" he cried as his wand gave off a bright orange glow. Upon saying the words, the entire dungeon began to shake causing the two husky Slytherins to stumble and crash onto the hard, stone floor. Ron immediately followed suit by using a Tickling charm on them to impair Crabbe and Goyle further. Malfoy, seeing that he was the only Slytherin still standing, did the only thing that came to his mind.
"Stupefy!" Malfoy cried while aiming his wand at Hermione. A blinding flash of red light was now screaming towards Hermione.
"Stupefy!" Hermione countered, sending her own stream of red-hot light out of her wand, colliding with Malfoy's. For the briefest of moments, the two rivals eyes were both locked solely on their duel, a true contest against wizards. The power of the two spells seemed to create their own fireworks display in the dimly lit dungeon.
"You're not going to win mudblood!" Draco screamed in defiance, the sweat on his forehead sliding down his chiseled face.
"She doesn't have to beat you, Malfoy." Harry said evenly.
WHAP!
In the midst of the duel, Matt had snuck behind Malfoy and delivered a double axe-handle, causing Malfoy to topple like a sack of meal. The instant Matt had made contact, the beam from Malfoy's wand sputtered into nothing, causing Hermione to break her hex moments after. The clamor that had invaded the dungeon only several minutes ago was now reduced to the wild laughter of Crabbe and Goyle, both of whom were still very under Ron's magic.
"Are you two all right?" Harry asked from the staircase leading into the dungeon.
"Thanks to you two we are," Matt said gratefully, "that's another one I owe you."
"Think nothing of it," Hermione said slyly as she pocketed her wand. "You can pay us back by thinking of a good way to dispose of Malfoy here."
"Perhaps you should place him under my care," came a slow drawl from behind the students causing all the three Gryffindors and one Ravenclaw to jump. There was good reason to be alarmed, for the voice belonged to the pallid-faced Severus Snape.
"We're in trouble now, aren't we?" Ron whispered to Matt.
"Silence, Weasley!" Snape barked as he turned his attentions to his students, most of whom had broad smiles on their faces despite the various curses and spells they had been placed under. Without speaking to anyone, Severus pulled out his own wand and pointed it at Draco.
"Eneverate," he said tonelessly while a wave of green light emerged from his wand and surrounded the unconscious flaxen-haired Slytherin. Within moments, Draco was once again awake, albeit with a horrible headache. However, for all the pain Draco was experiencing, it was all worth it to him for seeing the frightened expressions on his enemies' faces. Meanwhile, Severus was stalking about the room, performing various counter-curses against the other Slytherins, not saying a single unnecessary word. Once that work was done, Snape's hawk-like eyes swiftly turned to meet the eyes of nearly everyone in the room.
"I'm quite disappointed in you," Snape said maintaining his unhurried burring.
"We're very sorry about this Professor. . ." Hermione said in an amazingly quick fashion.
"I wasn't talking to you Granger!" Snape said, his voice only slightly louder. "I was talking to Malfoy." Malfoy, to his credit, looked as if he had just heard Snape ask to marry Harry.
"Me?" he asked bewildered.
"You had these students outnumbered three-to-one and you couldn't even scratch them. You should've been well aware that these two fools would have come to their aid," Snape said while pointing to Harry and Hermione, never laying his eyes off Malfoy. "A truly pathetic display of tactics and a complete lapse of judgment under fire." Draco couldn't even get a word out of his mouth in response.
"Thirty points from Slytherin." Snape said turning away from Malfoy. Everyone in the room was now completely bewildered. Snape taking away points from his own house was like Harry fighting alongside Voldemort himself. It just didn't happen.
"But, Professor Snape," Pansy Parkinson stuttered.
"Would you prefer I make it fifty, Miss Parkinson? Now get out of my sight, all of you!" As if they were all just turned on by some imaginary switch, each of the dozen Slytherins hurriedly picked themselves up and hustled upstairs. Harry and Hermione were about to see if they could do the same thing until a nasty look in Snape's eyes rooted them to their spots. As soon as all the Slytherins had made their exit, Snape continued again.
"As for you all, allow me to congratulate you on a job well done." Snape said with an even smirk.
"Thank you very much, Professor." Harry said in disbelief.
"So much so that I am only going to take off fifty points from both of your houses." This punishment quickly sent the four students rushing back into reality. "Get out of my dungeons before I expel all of you."
Harry, Matt, Ron, and Hermione rushed out of the dungeons and back into the Great Hall with no further prompting.
"It will take weeks to make up for the points we lost!" Hermione hollered as she and Harry made their way back to the Gryffindor Common Room after several hours of studying in the library.
"Cheer up, Hermione!" Harry said merrily. "At least it was for a good cause."
"Laying waste to the Slytherin fourth-year students is hardly what I would call a good cause."
"Well," Harry said warily, "would you like me to make it up to you?" Hermione abruptly stopped upon hearing that.
"What do you mean, Harry?"
"What I mean was that, um, how about we just go to the Yule Ball together? You know, if that's okay with you." Hermione's coffee-brown eyes were hard pressed to stay their normal size.
"Well, if you insist. Why not?" Hermione answered, for once not really knowing the correct answer to a question.
"You sure it wouldn't be too much trouble?" Harry asked.
"Not at all Harry! What are friends for?" Hermione said quickly, hoping that Harry didn't catch her hands that were shaking like a leaf in a rainstorm. By now, the two had not even noticed that they had arrived at the portrait of the Fat Lady, who had a very intrigued look on her plump face.
"Escorting the young lady on a moonlit stroll, Mr. Potter?" the Fat Lady asked with a cheeky grin causing Harry and Hermione to both blush profusely.
"Not at all, madam," Hermione said crossly, although Hermione couldn't really understand why she spoke to her in such a tone. "Balderdash."
"Fair enough," the Fat Lady said with a wave of her hand as she moved aside for the two friends to enter the Gryffindor Common Room.
"Well, I suppose I'll see you tomorrow, Harry." Hermione said with a bashful grin, "Good night."
"Good night." Harry whispered.
Meanwhile, our two other heroes were engaging in somewhat less innocent activities at The Three Broomsticks with the help of Harry's invisibility cloak and about two-dozen glasses of butterbeer.
"Ya shoulda seen the way we 'andled 'em blokes," Ron slurred to Madam Rosmerta, who was the only person that had bothered to pay attention to the two youths for the last hour. "Knocked 'em right on their arses!"
"I believe you, Ronald," Madam Rosmerta in a tone that obviously indicated otherwise. "So, do you two have dates for the Yule Ball coming up?"
"'Fraid not," Matt said dismally, his head still slumped onto the table.
"Women are foolish, I tell ya'" Ron said while he launched a clumsy punch toward Matt's shoulder. "I mean, honestly! Two perfectly good- looking fellows with no dates a week before the ball!"
"I just can't imagine why," Madam Rosmerta added dryly while she polished several empty glass tankards. However, the sarcasm was missed by Matt and Ron, who were too wrapped up in their own sorrows to pay attention to anyone else.
"And what about Harry?" Madam Rosmerta asked quietly, "does he have a lady for the ball." Only then did Matt feel the need to rise up from the table and give a bleary glare towards her.
"Don't start about 'Arry!" Matt garbled. "We set 'im up with Herm- own-ninny!" Ron once again punched Matt in the shoulder.
"That's not her name! It's 'Her-my-oh-nee'! 'Onestly Matt. You can't pronenciate properly!" Madam Rosmerta, who had quite a bit of experience in dealing with young love-starved wizards, simply decided to ignore their stupidity.
"Harry and Hermione would make such a darling couple," Madam Rosmerta said with a smile as she prepared a butterbeer for one of the goblins sitting at the bar.
"THAT'S WHAT I SAID!" Matt and Ron said at the same time. Then they both glared at each other and started to argue over who truly thought that Harry and Hermione would make a good couple. After two minutes of a truly stirring display of argumentative prowess, Matt and Ron were back to their original topic; who was the most attractive girl at Hogwarts. Madam Rosmerta simply shook her head in response to the bizarre pair.
'Those two seem so much like James and Sirius,' Rosmerta thought wistfully.
"Well, I personally think that Lavender is better looking than Parvati," Ron said as if he were discussing the decay of human morality.
"Please!" Matt said while he took a swig of his butterbeer. "Parvati's arse is ten times better lookin' than Lavendar's."
"The only reason you think that is because you just don't have good taste," Ron shouted.
"Well, at least I wasn't stupid enough to ask Fluer Delaclour out to the ball!" Matt hissed while Ron's ears turned an amazingly bright shade of red. "Honestly, you stupid prat, what were you thinking?"
"Well, what about Hermione?" Madam Rosmerta asked simply. Matt and Ron looked as if they had both been forced to swallow a gallon of cod-liver oil.
"That's disgusting!" Matt yelled.
"I agree, ol' buddy!" Ron said vigorously. "I just don't see what Harry sees in her."
"But didn't the two of you convince Harry to ask Hermoine out?" Madam Rosmerta asked with her eyebrows raised. It took quite a while for either Ron or Matt to summon the amount of brain cells to provide an answer to the question.
"Well, that just, um, got's nothing to do wit' it!" Matt answered.
"Yeah!" Ron shouted in response.
"Anyway. . ." Matt said as he placed his tenth tankard of butterbeer back on the wooden bar table. "Do you want to know who I really think is cute?"
"Who's 'at?" Ron asked hazily.
"Ginny."
Ron's eleventh tankard of butterbeer fell to the floor with an angry crash while his face turned a disturbing tint of scarlet.
"STAY AWAY FROM MY SISTER!" Ron howled as he chased Matt out of The Three Broomsticks and into the Hogsmeade night, drawing quite a bit of attention from the other patrons.
'Too much like James and Sirius,' Madam Rosmerta thought as she calmly picked up a stray broom and went to work on Ron's broken tankard.
Well, that's the end of the chapter and I'm quite pleased the results. Of course, my ever-friendly readers are more than welcome to agreeing or disagreeing with me. And, no, I am not planning on turning this into a romance piece. The mere thought of doing such a thing makes me shudder. Well, before I forget, let me do the preview for the next chapter.
It's Christmas time at Hogwarts and that means it's time for the Yule Ball! Harry and Hermione are set to go out, but are they going as just friends or something more? And what about Ron and Matt? Will they be able to recover from their stupor to get their shit together and get a date? Find out the answers to these and more in the next installment of Harry Potter and The Scholar of Mystery, Fun Times at the Yule Ball. Don't miss it!