Chapter 12 - Run Harry! Run!

(or: Ron's thirty second recap)

I'm going to really need therapy for this when it's all over..... -Harry Potter

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Cho stared at Harry in apprehension as she got up from the ground. A strange look was on his face as if he was about to burst a blood vessel. Also he kept muttering something under his breath about 'therapy' with the mention of 'crazy cat girls'. But then she quickly reminded herself that Rita Skeeter's article said he was somewhat mentally unstable, and used it as an excuse for the diligent studying he was doing of his shoes. They were very dirty though, she noted.

Cho sighed and straightened her skirt. She dusted herself off and shifted her eyes from Harry to up above him at Ron Weasley who was looking rather bashful. His red head was poking out from the open picture on the wall.

She raised an eyebrow. "Hullo, Ron. Care to explain what's going on?"

"What makes you think there's anything going on?"

Cho gave Ron a 'you must be joking look' that made him hastily try a different approach: avoid the question.

"Um, don't fifth year Ravenclaws have Transfiguration with the Hufflepuffs now?"

"It was cancelled," said Cho. "McGonagall never showed up to it, so Flitwick sent me with the fifth year girls to drill them on their Transfiguration lessons in their dorm - Not that it's any of your business, really, since you and Harry are they ones who are trespassing after all."

Ron plastered a look on his face that was very reminiscent to what the twins would use when they were trying to appear innocent... needless to say, it wasn't too convincing. "Didn't show up, you say? .... How very odd of her."

"Yes, well, aren't you and Harry suppose to be in class also?" said Cho suspiciously.

"Perhaps. Perhaps... I wouldn't touch him if I were you, by the way."

Morag jumped and pulled her hand back in response to the sharp warning from Ron. She had been reaching over to Harry to tap him on his shoulder and see if he was all right. He didn't look responsive. He looked pretty out in his own world actually.

"What happened to him?" she asked fearfully, backing away from Harry.

"Er, well, you see," Ron began nervously, "Um, there sorta was this big potion thingy that Ginny gave him that made Hermione start acting all crazy-like which made me think she was cheating on me (which she wasn't), but I didn't know that until Malfoy started talking about retarded stuff which made McGonagal come and then she started acting all crazy too which sent Harry scampering off in a hurry. But what really made Harry this way were the others.

What happened was when me and Malfoy went off after him Angelina Johnson got affected by the potion and, after narrowly escaping, Harry went scampering off again. So Malfoy and me had to go chasing once again after him which caused some massive stitches in my part, got split up until I found Harry finally. But then I got chased by Myrtle who was chucking all manners of weird things at us until I got this great idea to go into the John, but that didn't work because she blew it up, see? Fortunately though the wall opened and we got out safely before the big kabbowwy, and after a brief encounter with a spider I asked Harry not to talk about, we came here and Harry ended up with his face right in Cho's chest which is a bad thing if you ask me, but most definitely a good thing if you don't think about the potion, and how Harry's probably wanted to do that ever since he met Cho... and now you all are about to attack Harry pretty soon just like Hermione and Mrs. Norris (who I failed to mention before now) which is not going to be a fun thing for me to watch considering he's my best friend, so yeah, that's why he's a little bit crazy now. "

Ron paused his lengthy description of the events of the day to catch his breath and rest his hands since he had been using lots of jesters and expressions to emphasis the story. Everyone had very blank look on their face, all of them thinking the same thing.

And Padma voiced it for all of them. "You're as psycho as he is!" she yelled as she pointed to Harry who was still muttering rapidly to himself while continuing to stare at his shoes, with his glasses tipping precariously on the end of his nose.

Ron stiffened. "Hey, hold on a sec," he said angrily. "I was just doing what you asked me to do. It's not my fault you don't listen."

"Riiiight," Cho said with a disturbed look.

Padma Partil put her hands to her hips. "Listen here, you babbling git, I don't know what you're trying to pull, but you had better start talking straight for once or else I'll--"

"Ooooo."

Padma paused her talking and looked sharply at Harry.

Harry was no longer muttering to himself. Instead, his eyes were bulging and he was bent over with his arms wrapped around his stomach in a pained manner. A low, agonizing moan was sounding from him.

Padma pocked his shoulder roughly.

"Hey, you, what's the matter?" she asked.

Harry's lips parted and he sucked in a deep breath through his teeth. "W-Why me? What did I ever do so wrong?" he gasped.

"Barging into the Fifth Girls' Dorm may be good for a starter," said Padma dryly.

Harry's eyes focused on the doorway behind Cho. "M-Must get.... away."

Padma snorted disdainfully. "Well, you go right ahead, but we're still going to be telling Professor Dumbledore about this, you know."

Harry didn't seem to being hearing this.

"C-Can't... stay here...," he gasped, staggering forward. "I...must.... Urg!"

Harry suddenly collapsed down to the ground on his side; arms still crossed around his stomach.

Padma just stood there for a while and watched him writhing around at her feet. She arched an eyebrow.

"Oy!" She, tapped Harry with her shoe lightly. "You in pain or something?"

With his left eye squeezed shut, the other opened wide, Harry started crawling in desperation towards the doorway, hissing sharply at every move he made. "What.... do....you....think?" he demanded.

"Hey, now! No need to get snappy!" Padma retorted. She kicked Harry again.

"Oaf!"

Harry shot Padma an irritated glance. Halfway through, though, his expression suddenly changed.

"Uh-oh."

The pain that had been sheering inside him rapidly like the fires of hell suddenly quit.

He withdrew his arms from his stomach, sat up some, and stared down at his stomach. "It's gone..." he mumbled in confused fearfulness.

And so had Padma's angry expression. Harry blinked and slowly raised his head.

A pair of empty eyes were looking back at him. Padma's entire facial expressions were completely gone. Her mouth was slack, her brows straight, and eyelids half closed almost as if she had fallen asleep where she stood.

It didn't take Harry long to figure out what was going to happen next. He began scooting back from where he was, glancing to his left, then to his right franticly. He spotted Ron above him, leaning over the edge of the tunnel exit watching him in anxiety, and a whimper escaped from his throat.

Padma started smiling, and with her, the rest of the girls in the room. One by one, like Padma, they're faces turned blank then changed, and, in only a few moments, six Cheshire cat smiles, promising pain and torture, were all being directed towards Harry.

Harry backed up quicker, his legs kicking up high until his movements were abruptly stopped by something behind him. Cho's elegant brown eyes were sparkling as she stooped down over him.

Harry tried his hardest not to think about the fact that the edge of her skirt was draped over his head across his forehead, nor that if he adjusted his head just right and looked up a little bit higher....

Must resist the temptation.... Harry screwed his eyes shut and tried to go around Cho.

Cho, unfortunately, would have none of that and grabbed his hand.

Her hand was as soft as a turtledove's breast. The heat of the touch pulsated through Harry like the warm rays of a spring day. It felt sweet, like the first physical touch of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. Like the tender sweetness of a mother cradling her child. So loving. So full of care. So---

The cheesy music in the background suddenly came to a screeching halt as Harry's brain all at once switched back to reality screaming 'danger!' 'danger!'. He focused and noticed that someone had taken his other hand. He looked over at Su.

"Hey, Harry baby," she cooed as she stroked her plump hand along his.

Paralyzed in horror, Harry turned a nasty shade of white followed by various mixtures of pink, red, and purple before going back to white again.

While he had been off in his Shakespearean daydream, the Ravenclaw girls had taken the distraction to their advantage and circled around him to cut off his escape. Now he was completely surrounded by women all with expressions on their faces that would ensure nightmares for the rest of his remaining life. However short that would be now.

I'm going to really need therapy for this when it's all over... Harry thought to himself, deciding to disregard the more sensible side of him that was declaring he was going to die right here and now, as well as disregard the other more louder side pointing out that he could seriously take advantage of this situation with Cho.

Harry wrenched his hands away from Su and Cho and made a move to get up off the ground. He was unfortunately tacked by Padma in the process and brought back down with a muffled 'thump'.

Before Harry knew what was happening, a sea of girls were all on top of him. Faces swam in front of his vision until his glasses were knocked off in the scuffle. Then everything turned blurry and he was left fighting off as many hands as he could.

Suddenly there was a loud crash that sent a great burst of dust and feathers everywhere. Harry squinted and could make out something tall and red over by one of the beds only something was wrong with the canopy. Hope arose in him.

Ron?

Ron gave a heavy moan as he sat with the majority of his body buried under the broken remains of the bed he had fell on. He had believed that the canopy of the bed below the picture he had been at would support his weight if he was careful not to fall too fast, however he had failed to think about the fact that he couldn't really control the factor of gravity.

Swinging one of his legs out of the dilapidated ruin of what used to be a bed but was now nothing but a broken-in-half pile of oak and blankets with a human-shaped hole in it's canopy, Ron got out of the bed, feeling as if every bone of his body had been hit by a van traveling eighty miles per hours with a half-dozen elephants riding in it.

"Don't you worry, Harry," he said heroically as he tried to take some steps forward. The effect of his heroism was lost, however, since he could barely form two words between his heavy breathing, and the ground refused to stay still under his feet, making him rock to and frow. "I'll save you. Just hold on."

All Harry had heard was 'Just hold on' and the statement didn't comfort him much. Just hold on? He was being attacked by a group of crazy cat-girls! The last thing he wanted to do was calmly 'hold on' until Ron finally got the motivation to help him.

Now, Harry resolved, was the time to take matters into his own hands. Now was the time for action.

With a great feat of strength, Harry tore his arms from the iron grips of Padma and Su. He heaved himself up, sending Padma in a tumble towards Cho. Fumbling for his glasses, he griped them in his hand as he fought off the attacks of Lisa and Morag......

WHAMP!

Harry saw stars as Mandy's elbow went flying smack-dab into his face, making solid contact. Hisses of alarmed anger welled up around him as he fell back into the ground. He shook his head wearily to try and clear his head from the mini-snitches that seemed to be floating around it, and stared up at the girls, all of who's attention had been redirected to something else... or rather someone.

"N-Now I'm warning you!" Ron said shakily. "Don't try any funny business. I have a wand, and I'm not afraid to use it!"

Mandy lay perfectly still across Harry's waist. Shakily, Harry put on his glasses and examined her. He knew immediately what was wrong since it wasn't by any long shot the first time he had seen the pretrificus totalus curse on someone.

He felt along his eye delicately, betting it was turning a nasty purple and frowned. Ron really should use more discretion when shooting off curses at people, though, really, he shouldn't be complaining since the girls were off him now.

However Ron was looking a little regretful of helping him.

"D-Don't you come any closer." He swung his wand from one person to another.

They girls took out their own wands and Ron paled.

"Y-You know, now would be a good time for you to leave, Harry! Don't worry about me! I'll... uh, hold'em off..."

"Ron...." Harry began.

"GO!" Ron shouted.

And with POP, another curse shot out of Ron's wand. Su wobbled and fell over with her legs clamped tightly together in a leg-locker curse.

Deciding there was little to do for Ron and, going against his instinct to stay behind and help, Harry got up from the ground. Stumbling a bit, he made a break for the door, silently thanking Ron for his noble sacrifice.

Lisa tried to stop him, but he dodged her arms and escaped through safely.

The last thing he saw before turning the corner was Ron being over taken by Padma, Morag, and Cho. His wand arm was high in the air as he desperately tried to defend himself, but Padma shouted a hex and disarmed him.

With a sinking feeling of despair, Harry sped up and ran down the stairs in front of him and through the Ravenclaw Common Room. He knew he had to find Dumbledore so he could cure him of this horrible potion, but Ron had been captured by the enemies and he couldn't just leave him there to be tortured. He had to rescue him somehow.

A shrill whistle of approval caught Harry's attention. He looked over at one of the pictures he was going by and caught the woman in it giving him a wolfish look.

Man, this is getting ridiculous! he thought.

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Aahz - Why? Oh, no reason really. I just like prolonging Harry's torture is all...^____^

Dawgh - Why does it take me ages to write a new chapter? Well, multiple reasons, really. I try updating as soon as I can, but not only does my social life and schoolwork get in the way, but also I have other stories I'm writing. This one actually gets the most attention out of all of them, so be thankful. I'll try to update more often, but it's really up to my muse more then anything else, so talk to him. *points to Frodo who's currently eating mushrooms*

Frodo: Hmm? *confused, scared big-eyed look*

AcidAngelTears - Hey, thanks. Yours is the type of reviews I like receiving the most. It's so heart-warming to hear that somewhere out there someone is reading my work and laughing with their friends over it. It makes me feel as if my insanity had been worth it almost.

Shadow Phantom - Oh stop it, I'm blushing! No, actually, don't. I could do with the ego boosts. ^_~ You are definitely one of my favorite reviewers. Not only do you review my Amorae story, but you've reviewed my other fanfics. Thank you, Shadow-sama, thank you from the bottom of my corrupt little heart. I'm looking forward to the next chapter in your own Lord of the Rings/Harry Potter story

Eleana23 - Trelawney, Pansy, and Parvati, huh? Interesting. Very interesting. I never even thought about Trelawney. Hmmm, well, I'll give you a tiny spoiler: I spy with my twisted evil eye something in the future involving one of the three. Which one? Who can tell? Thanx for the reviews. ^_~