A/N: To anyone and everyone who was confused about the last chapter I promise everything will be explained in this chapter.

Disclaimer:  I don't even pretend to own them.

*** Thanks goes out to the following: Fiona Goldfeet, yes, now it's going to get complicated.  I like complicated.  Thanks for saying have a nice day to me!  I hope you have/had a wonderful day too!  Jenny, your reviews, and I'm not just saying this, always put a smile on my face!  It's absolutely lovely I tell you, to read your reviews!  Thank you and Parvati will be back soon…HogwartsHoe; your name makes me laugh!  Thank you for saying the last chapter was nicely done!  It really means a hell of a lot to me!  Marjojo, I'm serious when I say your fic was good!  I loved it!  AND I'm so glad you actually look forward to reading my chapters!  That means a lot to me too!  Ann, here's the update you were hoping for!  This chapter was hard to write…partially because I confused myself with the last chapter but this should explain everything…tell me if it works?  Pinkchicklet, I'm dead serious when I say I hope you're updating that story soon (EVERYONE READ THE STRANGER…IT'S SO CUTE)!  I really loved you're story…I like that everything flows nicely together and there is definite potential in it!  Great job!  Maddy Leigh, I'm so excited to get this posted up for you guys!  I hope you enjoy it as much as you enjoyed the last one!  Nichole, I'm sorry it was confusing…hopefully this chapter will clear any confusion up…and I'm glad you still thought it was a good chapter!  Keep reviewing!  Shaunna, first off I had no idea how to reach you so I would like to give you a hug for reading and reviewing my songfic!  It's so great to see that people have read and reviewed and liked it!  I'm also glad that you like Harry/Parvati…I've said it many, many times…I don't mind Harry/Ginny but at the same time they kind of bother me…no one hit me please!  So, it's nice that you support them…makes me feel good!  Slap me silly, I love your penname too!  It's great that you reviewed and I hope you'll like this chapter and that it makes sense to you too!  Vanilla Baby, well here's the start to how they are going to pull it off…I hope you like it!  Luckyloo16, another new reviewer!  You guys kick ass and I absolutely love it!  I'm so glad you love this story so far!  I hope you enjoy this chapter!  Sami_Gamgee, actually…I do want to write for a living and so I thank you from the bottom of my heart for the compliment you gave me!  Thank you so much DazzilinAngel555, I do put a lot of thought into it and it is so great that you can tell!  I hope you enjoy this new chapter!  It means so much to me!  Thank you everybody…love you all…ENJOY!

Chapter 26: The Romantic Way

Parvati stayed by her sister's bedside for hours upon hours until finally, two days later on Monday Madame Pomfrey shooed her away.

"I just feel so horrible," she admitted quietly to Harry that afternoon.  Ron and Hermione had abandoned him to do Merlin-knows-what, and truthfully Harry was fine with it.  He rather liked spending time with the dark-haired Gryffindor.

They were all alone in the common room.

It was way to tempting; sitting next to her on the sofa, watching fat tears slide down her smooth cheeks before they finally reached their final destination: her full, and quite prettily red, lips.

He leaned in and quickly gave her a kiss. 

Parvati was shocked for a moment but then her eyelids fluttered downward and she temporarily forgot her sister was in the Infirmary.  That is, until Harry pulled away; in which case she wished she could pull him back on top of her to kiss him like crazy.  She didn't, of course.

She bit her full lip and chewed on it thoughtfully.  "You guys know how to cure Lee and Katie?" she asked a moment later.

Harry nodded.  "Yeah…shouldn't be too hard actually," he said sarcastically.  He hadn't realized he kept his hand on her thigh as he continued talking to her. 

"What?"  She arched an eyebrow.  "What is it you have to do?"

Harry shook his head.  "I don't know exactly…from what I understand we have to find a guy to fall in love with Katie and a girl with Lee.  This is of course all done while they're unconscious.  And keep in mind Katie is at St. Mungo's."

Parvati looked confused, then shocked, and then a wicked smile overcame her features.  "That shouldn't be too hard, really," she said wickedly.

Harry couldn't help it.  He gaped openly at her.  What was she nuts?  Of course it was going to be hard!  You can't fall in love with an unconscious person!  Could you?

"I think you're going to have to explain that," Harry said slowly and quietly. 

"Before I do that, I think we need to pick the two lucky candidates.  Who do you think?" Parvati asked.

"Who do I think what?"  Was he completely in the dark? 

She patted his knee.  "Really Harry, try to keep up with things here, OK?"

What was there to keep up with?

Parvati saw the obvious look of confusion on his face and smiled.  She looked endeared with him but for the life of him he couldn't figure out what she was smiling at.  "We need to go find Hermione…she's with Ron, right?  Well, where's he at?"

***

Hermione was seated across from Ron in the library.  It wasn't a romantic date or anything near that but she was truly happy to be with him.  She could have gone into the Forbidden Forest and she would have been happy as long as he was by her side.  It was crazy she knew.

Ron grinned at her crazily as he gingerly brushed up her leg with a clunky foot.  Still she thought he was sweet.  She blew a kiss to him and had to stifle a giggle as his face turned a brilliant shade of red.

"You're cute, you know that?" she complimented.  She smiled easily.  She wouldn't have said it to him quite yet but she was in love with this boy.

"I think you're just trying to distract me while I'm doing homework," he hissed quite seriously.  He then proceeded to continue reading the magazine in front of him.  She wasn't sure which magazine it was but she was positive it had something to do with Quidditch.  Something she was sure he cared more about than her, which she was OK with.

"Sure you're doing homework…and what is that?  "Charms Daily?""  She stopped talking long enough to chuckle at his horrified face.  He knew she was on to him.  "Or maybe it's "Quidditch Daily?"  Hmm, now which could it be?  What would Ronald Weasley, procrastinator extraordinaire be more likely to read?"  She made a reach for the magazine but was too slow and Ron whipped it high into the air.  He was not successful at keeping the name of the magazine from her, however.  Her eyes narrowed to cunning slits. ""Quidditch Daily?"  Good job with your homework darling," she wished him with a kind smile.

"Witches," he muttered under his breath.

Hermione secretly grinned behind the book she was reading.  "What was that?"

"Nothing," he replied in an exasperated tone.

"My, my Hermione…it didn't take long to get him whipped into shape," Parvati observed as she and Harry joined them at the table.

Ron looked up sharply.  "Excuse me?"

"She said you're whipped Ron," Harry clarified for his sometimes dense friend. 

"I am not whipped!" he protested.

"Ron, shh," Hermione chastised from her place across the table.

"Alright," Ron agreed wearily, that is until he caught Harry and Parvati's shared grin.  He grumbled under his breath, something about "You wait and see Harry…it won't be long til she has you wrapped around her pinkie finger too!"  OK, so it was quite clearly said, this caused the other three to laugh in harder at their friend's expense.

"If you only came here to pick on me would you two go bugger off!" he requested in a loud whisper.

"Actually we came here because Parvati said we had to find you…" Harry's voice trailed off when he realized what he had given Ron to work with.

"Whipped, eh Harry-mate?" his friend patronized.

Harry almost stuck out his tongue at his friend, until he realized that would have been quite juvenile and he would have made a great fool out of himself. 

"Would you two be quiet so I can Hermione what I think will work?  At least in the cases of Lee and Katie?" Parvati interrupted.  She was quite serious too.  They immediately clamped their mouths shut.

Parvati only let a glimmer of a triumphant smile through before she continued speaking.  "Now, Hermione tell me exactly what can be done for them?"  Parvati's huge hoop earrings gleamed under the light of the library.

"Well, there's the slightly harder, we're-more-likely-to-be-expelled way, that is, we concoct a potion that has been tried on cases such as these.  It does work.  The problem is, most of the ingredients are only found in the Mediterranean regions of Europe so if Snape has those ingredients, it's probably not a whole lot and there's a huge chance we could get expelled if he noticed anything, and I mean anything was missing."  She looked to each of the three.  "I do not want to be expelled, and," she shot a meaningful glance at the two boys, "as much as they hate doing schoolwork I know they don't want to be expelled either."

She had a valid point, Ron thought.

"Or catch the wrath of Snape," Parvati muttered darkly under her breath, though they all could hear her.

"Yes and so, you see why we shouldn't do that one…that and this second one is much more romantic, Parvati," Hermione explained.  Harry couldn't have been sure but he thought Hermione sounded quite…excited about the prospect of this…this romantic crap and he shot a questioning look at Ron.  His friend shrugged his shoulders and shook his head.

"The second way…the romantic way…involves finding two people; a wizard for Katie and a witch for Lee.  Each of these people needs to fall in love with the respective person.  The problem is, I have no idea how to get two people fall in love with two people when they are unconscious," Hermione said.  Her voice was lined with misery.

Parvati's grin was devilish.  "Which is exactly where I come in, my dear friends," she announced in a high-pitched, sweet voice.

Hermione set the book closed and crossed her arms over her chest.  Ron watched Parvati wearily and Harry couldn't help but feel a bit curious as to what she had to say next.

Parvati pushed a stray lock from her normally perfect hair behind her ear.  "Well Harry and I were just discussing this and yes, you're right, it will be hard to get the two conscious people to fall in love with the Katie and Lee but it can be done."

"How?" Hermione asked critically.

"Easy…every girl keeps a diary right?  Well, the next best thing a boy can do rather than talking to a girl to get to know her inner thoughts is to read her diary.  A girl is probably more truthful with a diary than she is speaking to a boy…"  Parvati looked across the table to Harry and then beside her where Ron sat.  "Don't worry boys, we love ya," she teased.  "We wouldn't lie to you."

Hermione nodded her head thoughtfully.  "Alright, so I can see how that might work…but I doubt boys keep journals.  What do we do about Lee then?" she quizzed.

Parvati sighed heavily.  "I don't know…I didn't think of that part."  She brightened just as quickly as she had seemed upset.  "But you think the journal thing with Katie might work?"

"I don't see any reason why it wouldn't work," Hermione replied.  She thought actually that it was quite a brilliant idea.

Parvati settled back into her chair.  "Good.  We should probably go to Dumbledore and ask if those at St. Mungo's could be placed back in the Infirmary.  Or at least if Seamus and…whoever the others liked and…Malfoy…" Parvati had to hide a snort at the mention of the pretty blonde male Slytherin's name.  "We should at least ask if they could get permission to go into St. Mungo's then and admit everything to…them."

Ron snapped his fingers together.  "I know!" he exclaimed triumphantly.

"Mr. Weasley!  Be quiet!" Madame Pomfrey demanded behind her desk.  Even though it was yards away and she was whispering quite furiously it sounded as if she had been right behind the corner.

"Yes Madame," Ron muttered.  He knew she could hear.  That witch had ears like a fox; she could hear anything.

The librarian didn't respond so Ron knew it was safe to speak again.  He quieted his voice to barely above a whisper.  "I bet Fred and George have a hell of a lot of stories about Lee they'd be willing to tell…oh quit it Hermione!  It was only a little curse word!" he protested to her look of adamant disapproval.  "Anyway, I bet if any girl listened to enough of those stories she might fall in love with Lee!"

Actually Harry didn't think it was such a bad idea.  Neither did the girls apparently, seeing as neither said anything.

Hermione was actually frowning, thinking about that.

"You know Ron…that might just work," Parvati returned after a moment of silence. 

Hermione was a tad slower to answer but when she finally did, it was with confidence that that might work.

"OK, now the hard part," Harry started quietly.  "Who are the lucky people?"

Can I just rant for two lines?  I'm assuming most are girls reading this and if there are any boys, I apologized right now and you might just want to skip to the next paragraph…anyhow…don't men just piss you off?  I'm sorry to bitch, I'm just having a bad day and I completely blame it on my boyfriend!  (Alright, some of it is my fault but that's beside the point!)  Anyhow, I just wanted to let you know that writing this chapter made me feel a lot better!  Thank you for liking my story!

Alright, I apologize—that was more than two lines!  Anyhow, what did you think?  I think it turned out pretty damn well if I do say so myself!  I hope you enjoyed this!  Please review!  Thanks again!

*** As a side note, please pray/light a candle/meditate/whatever-it-is-you-do for the Allied forces in light of the war…and not only for the Allied soldiers but also the innocent Iraqi lives that will be lost. Remember, it is not Iraq we are against, but Saddam Hussein. I apologize if this request has offended you.

The harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph.  What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly; it is dearness only that gives everything its value.  I love the man that can smile in trouble, that can gather strength from distress and grow brave by reflection.  'Tis the business of little minds to shrink; but he whose heart is firm, and whose conscience approves his conduct, will pursue his principles unto death.

~ Thomas Paine