(A/N) Ok. Now I know this chapter is a little odd and may not make much sense now, but eventually all will be explained. I was in a quandary over whether I should write this or not, but decided that this IS how I wanted this chapter to go. In the end, I decided to appease myself and write what I felt I could write. Harry is very difficult to write a smut scene for. I kept giggling and blushing while I wrote something erotic about him. I think that it is the way that JK writes his character. I got myself in way deeper than I wanted to go when I put the dream sequence in the last chapter. I do not know if I am going to keep the story going with that chapter as is, or revise the last chapter and lower the rating. I think I will leave that decision up to you all when you read this chapter and the next one. Please let me know what you think. Do you like more smut and less humor or do you like more humor and less smut? I really do want to know your opinions, so please, review after you have read.
Chapter 6 or You Have a Point There Ron, What Next?
Harry blinked and rubbed his eyes trying to get a better look at the girl standing by Hagrid's side. Upon closer inspection, he concluded that though there were a lot of similarities between the two girls, they were not one and the same. They had the same color hair and the same hairstyle, but this girl had a smaller build and was a lot prettier than the girl in his dream. Harry blushed when he thought of that dream. He had never had a dream like that before and could only conclude that it came from reading too many of Dudley's dirty magazines which he had found in a crate under Dudley's bed during the summer break.
Ron and Hermione came to a stumbling halt beside him and looked enquiringly at him. A dreamy look crept over Harry's features. "She's a Goddess." He whispered. "Look at that face, those eyes, that hair, no other can compare." Hermione looked over at the girl and her eyes widened in shocked recognition. Pansy Parkinson went to hand a younger first year student some supplies from her bag, and somehow ended up knocking her bag and the boy's bag to the ground. Quills, parchment, and ink went flying in all directions. Pansy disappeared behind the crowd as she bent down to pick up her supplies.
Hermione pressed a hand to Harry's forehead. "You're not warm, so I'll have to rule out the delirious with fever theory. A lovesick smile lifted Harry's lips as he watched his beloved stand and fumble with her book bag. "A Venus De Milo." He absently commented to his friends. Hermione's gaze shifted from Harry's smitten face to the uncoordinated Slytherin who struggled with her book bag and supplies before she turned to Ron with a worried look on her face. Ron just looked back at Hermione with a panicked look on his face. Neither of the two knew what to do about this latest development.
"But Harry. How did this happen?" Hermione asked in genuine confusion while still scrutinizing the girl in question. There was no doubt that she had changed quite a bit over the summer also. Her face, instead of being pug shaped had thinned out and was now actually quite pretty. Her hair was thick and luxurious looking, and not at all frizzy, Hermione thought with a scowl on her face.
The girl must have felt their intense scrutiny because she looked up from fumbling with her supplies and searched the faces of the surrounding students. Harry quickly glanced away from the girl as he did not want to get caught staring. He knew that he was nice looking and that girls liked him, but he was embarrassed to admit that he still did not feel comfortable around girls. He would get his courage up to approach a girl, the girl would smile and he would just choke, stutter some excuse and flee. What he needed was some confidence, but the only way to get that was to actually talk to a girl. Hmmm, he thought, maybe Hermione and Ron could help me practice my technique. Flushing at the thought of asking his friends for lessons in something as personal as this, Harry laughed, and then smiled at his confused friends as they started walking towards the carriages that would take them to Hogwarts.
On his way, he looked back over his shoulder and marveled at the fact that there was no line of girls following him today. Hermione, noticing the glances made over his shoulder, looked over and smiled at Harry. "I never thought Rita Skeeter would come in handy. Did you Harry?" Harry grinned back at his friend. Of the many things that had happened to Harry since the beginning of summer, he never would have thought that something the newspaper reporter would write could help him in any way. It seems though, that since a picture that he had not even known had been taken had hit the news stands, that the female wizard population had calmed down quite a bit. Exposure to him had seemed to help the girls control themselves around him, so he read the weekly articles about himself with mostly amusement. He still received the admiring and fawning glances of girls and women alike, but did not have deal with hordes of women and girls following him wherever he went. Now he just had a few girls here and there, and they mostly kept there distance, content to just be around him and not really needing to have him pay attention to them.
"Forewarned is forearmed Hermione." And couldn't help but grin at the thought of Malfoy getting hate mail. He hoped that someone had sent him some nasty potion in his mail that made him break out in blisters like Hermione had back in fourth year.
The ride to the school did not take long and Harry sighed happily when the castle came into view. Stepping down from the carriage he had the feeling that he was truly home. As the trio walked into the Great Hall, some of the students that had not read the news articles or seen the pictures of him in Witch Weekly, stopped and stared at him while he took his seat.
Most of the teachers had been prepared for just about anything to happen. After what had happened in Diagon Alley a couple of weeks back, Albus asked all Professors to bring their wands and to keep an ever vigilant eye on the assembled students. He sighed in relief when it looked like the students were going to let Harry get to his seat with no problems. There was quite a bit of whispering going on in the hall, between both students and professors alike, at this time, but nothing beyond the usual happened and soon the whispering quieted down as Professor McGonnagal brought the first years in to be sorted. She set the old ragged hat, known as the Sorting Hat, down on the stool. Harry and the rest of the school held their breaths as the hat started its song. The old hat had nothing to do the rest of the year, so took great pleasure in making up new and exciting songs for the next school year. The school quite looked forward to seeing what the hat had come up with as each new year came around.
When the hat had sung its last note, Professor McGonnagal smiled and turned to the first years and started calling names. The first years, still in shock from seeing a singing hat, were looking worriedly at each other, but calmed after the first student had timidly put the hat on his head. The sorting went by fairly quickly as there were not that many first years this time around: Slytherin received seven: Hufflepuff, five: Ravenclaw, eight: Gryffindor, seven. All in all, not a very large first year class thought Harry distractedly.
Harry was searching the Slytherin table for a glimpse of Pansy and as of yet, had not had any luck. Though, he did see an uncharacteristically acting Draco Malfoy. He was very quiet and had developed a nervous tick in his left eye. He kept looking nervously around the hall, and jumped at sudden, loud noises. Crabbe and Goyle were looking decidedly lost and confused as they watched their leader act so differently than they were used to. Harry had to smirk while he watched as his hated enemy jumped in terror when a first year accidentally knocked over a seat.
He was so absorbed in watching the Slytherin table, that he did not even realize the food had appeared on the table until Ron nudged him. He decided to worry about Pansy's absence after he ate. It had been a while since he had eaten and his stomach grumbled in protest at the wait. He picked up a drumstick and shoved a piece of the meat into his mouth. Ron had devoured almost his entire third portion of chicken when Harry thought to ask him about lessons.
"Ron?" He whispered. "I need some help." At these magic words, Ron dropped his fork and gave Harry his undivided attention. "I need help learning how to talk to girls, how to flirt, how to kiss. Can you teach me?"
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Harry was very excited and in a hurry to get started with the lessons once he got Ron's agreement to help him. He hurriedly ate the rest of his supper and hauled Ron out of the Great Hall. When they got to the common room, they both rushed upstairs to their dormitory. Ron grabbed a mirror from the nightstand and motioned for Harry to come closer. Ron closed the curtains on Harry's bed and cast a silencing spell so that they would have some privacy. "Ok, Harry. Before you can get to the flirting and kissing stage, you have to learn to be comfortable talking to a girl." Ron handed the mirror to Harry who took it hesitantly.
"I thought you didn't like me talking to mirrors?" Questioned a confused Harry. Ron turned red and faced Harry.
"This is different Harry. Do you want me to teach you or not?" To appease Ron, Harry smiled and peered into the mirror. "Ok, then." Ron continued. "When Fred and George taught me, they gave me a mirror and told me to pretend it was a girl." Harry did not see how him pretending the mirror was a girl and him talking to the charmed mirror at the Burrow was any different, but decided to give this lesson a go. "You practice sweet talking with the mirror." He heard Ron continue. "Girls really love it when you talk sweet talk to them. You practice this for a bit Harry and then we will go from there." Ron got up off the bed and stretched before walking over to his dresser to get his pajamas. "I'm going to bed now, Harry. Trust me, Harry, just practice." Ron crawled into bed and turned out his light.
Soon, all Harry could hear was snoring coming from all of the boys in the dormitory. Not wanting to disturb or be interrupted by anyone, Harry decided to go down to the common room and practice down there. Reaching the bottom step, Harry looked around to make sure no one was there, and took a seat in the furthest, most private corner of the room and raised the mirror to eye level trying to image it was Pansy he was talking to.
Ginny, coming in late from a detention with Professor Snape, opened the portrait door just in time to see Harry raise the mirror to his face. "I like you." Harry started. "Oh." He stared at his reflection, his expression expectant, as if he was listening to someone. "You like me too? I'm the most handsome wizard you've ever seen? Well, thank you. You are one of the prettiest witches I have ever met." He smiled. "You want to what? To kiss me? Why sure honey. Don't be shy, I won't laugh----" Harry's voice came to an abrupt halt as the portrait creaked shut behind Ginny. Harry's eyes flew to the red head and a bright red flush stained his cheeks.
"I didn't know anyone was there."
"What are you doing?" Ginny reached over and took the mirror from him and looked it over. Seeing that it was a regular mirror, she handed it back to the embarrassed boy.
"Practicing talking." Ginny raised an eyebrow in surprise.
"You seem to talk just fine to me. What do you need to practice for?"
"Sweet talk. I'm practicing how to talk to girls, and Ron said that this is the best way to learn." Harry blushed and looked back down at the mirror in his hands.
"Oh." Breathed Ginny. "Well, Ummm, good luck, Harry." She said edging her way towards the staircase. She smiled and waved a small goodbye to him and made her way up to the girl's dormitory. "Goodnight."
"Night." Muttered a mortified Harry. He picked up his mirror and made his way wearily up to his room.
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After Ron had stopped laughing when Harry told him about Ginny catching him with the mirror, they decided to practice the lessons in their room, while surrounded by bed curtains and silencing spells. While the other boys were down in the common room socializing, Ron was preparing Harry's next lesson.
"Lip exercises." Ron explained to a confused Harry. "Help loosen your lips and keep them flexible." Harry looked skeptically at Ron. "Come on, Harry. Open your mouth wide. Really wide." Ron demonstrated. "Now, close it. Now open it, then close it." He watched as Harry mimicked his motions. After repeating this exercise for few minutes, Harry looked suspiciously at his friend who sat watching him practice.
"Ron? Have you ever actually kissed a girl before?" Ron blushed at this question. Harry nervously went on. "It's just that this seems like an awful lot of work to go through just to get a kiss." Ron's ears turned red and his voice got a tad squeaky as he answered his friend.
"Of course I've kissed before, Harry!" He leaned in closer to Harry and confided. "I needed help the first time too. I asked Fred and George for help, and now, I am passing along their wisdom to you." Harry groaned and rolled his eyes at this disclosure.
"Ron. Fred and George taught you this?"
"It works, Harry. It really does." Ron earnestly assured his skeptical friend. "Just trust me on this one, Harry. Have you ever heard any complaints about my kissing technique?" Harry thought a moment about this and turned towards his friend while slowly nodding his head.
"You have a point there, Ron. Ok then, what next?"
(A/N) I also have to let you know that I in no way hate any one ship or any of the houses in the books by JK. I am rather partial though to Slytherins. I think it may have something to do with Alan Rickman's voice in the movies! I know that there are a few slams in this story regarding Draco and some of the other Slytherins. It just seemed to go that way. Harry does hate Draco and Slytherins in general, so it would be rather odd to have him suddenly love ALL Slytherins. Explanation of Harry's sudden love for Pansy will be given in future chapters by the way.