O.o It has been soooo long since I last updated this fic, even though I've had this chapter written for ages! And is now post-Ootp, so will have to label this semi-au. No dead Sirius here!
*cries* My poor, poor Remus, he has lost his love. WAH! I miss my Sirius!
I *promise* to upload *much* sooner! As in v. soon!
~Chapter Ten: Secrets and Plots~
Elian Indus, crown prince of the woodland elves, restlessly paced the small hut, muttering impatiently to himself in elvish. Since Draco and Harry had left the hut earlier that day, something had been nagging at the back of his mind, but he couldn't quite figure out what it was. Something to do with Kyrin and the Malfoys...
He rubbed his eyes tiredly and flopped down onto the bed. It was huge and took up most of one of the rooms coners. Lian soon found that the bed was far too large for him, having been made for a half-giant rather than an elf, and found himself beginning to feel rather lonely. Reaching out across the bed, he touched the wooden wall of the hut, trying to draw some small comfort from it. He wasn't surprised, however, to receive none, the wood was dead and had been so for many years. Sighing unhappily, he burrowed in under the blankets on the bed, and wrapped his arms around himself, staring fixedly at the wall.
"He wants me to love someone else." He whispered sadly to the wall. "Someone else! I could never..." His words were cut off by a harsh sob. "Why? Why does he want me to do that? How am I supposed to find someone else?" He buried his face in his pillow, and whispered, "I don't want to find someone else."
~*~
Harry and Ashley had arrived at Remus' office to find that neither he nor Sirius were there.
Leaning against the door, Ashley turned to Harry with an expectant look on her face. "What now?"
Harry shrugged. "We may as well go back."
Ashley didn't look to happy with that idea, but followed Harry when he left anyway.
About half way to the Gryffindor Tower, Ashley suddenly stopped and looked wistfully back the way that they had come from.
"Harry..." she said, reaching out and lightly touching his arm. "You go ahead without me. I'll see you later."
She sounded slightly nervous, as if she was afraid that Harry wouldn't let her go, and her hair had turned a light shade of purple to match her mood.
Harry smiled slightly, and nodded. "Of course."
Ashley sighed with relief and spun around quickly, her long hair narrowly missing whipping Harry in the face, and ran down the corridor. She paused briefly near the end and yelled a quick 'thank you' to Harry over her shoulder. Then she was gone, and Harry was left standing alone in the corridor, a bemused expression on his face.
~*~
Back in the Gryffindor common room, Hermione was busy receiving her second lecture within one night, although this one was being carried on in more hushed tones, with deadly glares being sent to anyone who looked like they were trying to listen in.
"Hermione Granger, you are unbeliavably narrow-minded and self-centred!" Seamus was saying angrily.
Hermione was sitting in an over-stuffed armchair by the fire, looking close to tears. "You don't even know what's happened!"
Seamus crossed his arms over his chest, and glared at her. Curled up behind him in another chair, a book in his hands, Martyn watched them, an amused expression on his face.
"I know enough." Seamus said coldly. "You're going to ruin your frienship with Harry, without any good reason."
"I'm not trying to ruin my friendship with Harry!" Hemione snapped. "And what is to you if I do, anyway?"
"Harry is my friend, Hermione." Seamus whispered harshly. "You do know what friends are don't you? People who stick together no matter what. Just because Harry made a decison that you don't agree with-"
"A decision that I don't agree with?" Hermione interrupted. "I don't agree with him that Draco Malfoy can be trusted. I don't agree that anyone can get that close to Malfoy without getting hurt. I don't agree that Malfoy isn't going to turn around and stab Harry in the back the moment the oppurtuninty arises. I don't want Malfoy to break one of my best friends hearts. I don't-" she stopped, realising that Seamus was watching her with a look of smug amusement on his face. "I don't think I should have said that." she finished weakly.
Ron, who was sitting beside her, looked as if he wanted to hit her, and was having a hard time restraining himself.
Seamus turned to Martyn with a triumphant grin on his face. "I told you it was Malfoy!" he said happily.
Martyn shook his head. "You didn't."
"Oh." Seamus' face fell momentaril, but he quickly brightened and shrugged. "Well I meant to tell you. I got distracted."
Martyn laughed, then nodded slightly towards the portrait whole, which had just swung open, and went back to reading his book.
"Harry!" Seamus cried, flinging his arms wide. "Just the person I wanted to see!" He took Harry by the arm and led him towards the stairs to the boy's dorms. "You and I need to have a talk."
Harry cast a wistful glance at Hermione and Ron, but they both seemed to be trying their hardest not to notice him, so with a sigh, he let them be and allowed himself to be led up to their room.
When they were there, Seamus pushed Harry down onto his bed and sat acroos for him.
Harry waited expectantly for Seamus to talk, wondering what it was going to be about. While he'd been friends with Seamus since their first year at Hogwarts, he had never been as close to Seamus as he was Ron. Seamus had always just been someone who he talked to in class or at mealtimes in the Great Hall. The Irish boy had always been best friends with Dean, and Harry with Ron.
Which left Harry wondering why Seamus had dragged him up to their dorm to have what was obviously going to be something of a private chat.
His patience was soon rewarded, as Seamus cleared his thoat and began to speak, although his words gave Harry a shock.
"Draco Malfoy." Seamus said calmly.
Harry blinked owlishly at him. "Draco Malfoy." he echoed, hoping that he didn't sound as nervous as he felt.
"Yeah," Seamus replied. "You know, the blond Slytherin? Something of a bastard, friends with Ash, seems to speak a fair bit of elvish, pretty sexy body too."
Harry choked a bit at Seamus' last commetn,a nd came to the conclusion that their conversation was heading rapidly into very forbidden territory. And that there was nothing he could do to stop it. "Get to the point, Seamus." he snapped.
Seamus folded his arms. "Impatient, are we?" he said, lifting an eyebrow. "Fine. Are you, or aren't you, going out with Draco Malfoy?"
Harry stared open-mouthed at Seamus for several minutes, then slowly lowered his head into his hands. "Crap."
Less than a second later, Seamus was off the bed and dancing around the room, laughing hysterically all the while. Finally he stopped, and sat back down, pulling Harry's head away from his hands as he did so.
"Why do you think I'm going out with Malfoy?" Harry asked quietly.
Seamus shrugged. "Quite a few reasons actually. First would be that outburst in Care of Magical Creatures, and the fact that you went with him to talk to the teacher. Next would be Ash's outburst about 'happiness', and then finally the fact that Hermione practically told me."
Harry looked at him, anger warring with shock on his face. "She told you?!"
Seamus nodded. "Just about, although I had to fill in a few blanks myself."
Harry groaned. "Who else knows?"
Seamus looked thoughtful. "Well, Hermione, Ron and Ashley, of course. Then there's me - another 'of course' - and Martyn."
"Martyn?" Harry blinked. "She told him as well? Why?"
"Well...I sort of told Martyn." Seamus said guiltily. "I had to!" he said, when Harry glared at him. "He's my boyfriend after all, I couldn't not tell him. You're lucky I didn't tell Dean. He's my best friend. But I know how much he likes to talk..."
"Dean likes to talk?" Harry asked. "This coming from the biggest gossip in Hogwarts? And I include Lavender and Pansy in that statement."
Seamus grinned sheepishly. "I won't tell anyone else." He promised. "But only on one condition."
Harry rolled his eyes. "What?"
"Tell me everything!" Seamus replied. "How long you've been together, how you got together, why you got together. When was your first kiss. Have you kissed:? Tell me absolutely everything!"
Harry laughed. "It all started with Ashley trying to get us to be friends..."
~*~
An hour later, Ron, Dean, and Neville all entered the room, only to find the curtains on Seamus' bed tightly shut, and quiet whispers coming from inside.
Sudden laughter errupted from behind the curtains, and scowling, Dean walked over to the bed and flung them open.
Seamus and Harry were lying on the bed, facing each other, and when Dean coughed, they both looked up expectantly.
"What," Dean asked curiously. "are you two plotting?"
Seamus feigned hurt. "Us? Plotting?" He turned to Harry. "Were we plotting, Harry?"
Harry grinned and shook his head.
"See!" Seamus said, sitting up and glaring at Dean in mock-annoyance. "We weren't plotting. You have such a low opinion of me, Dean."
Dean shook his head. "I know plotting when I see it, and you two were definitely plotting. Ron," he said, looking to Ron for support. "You know what plotting looks like, your brothers must do it all the time. So these two were plotting, weren't they?"
Ron, who had a good idea what that what they were talking about, hadn't been anything to do with a plot, shrugged non-commitedly.
Dean turned to Neville then. "They were plotting, weren't they, Neville?"
Neville, who had been trying to quietly put his pyjamas on with out attracting Deans attention, paused with his shirt half on. He looked to Seamus, who was doing his best imitation of hurt innocence, to Dean who was looking at him expectantly, and shrugged and went back to putting his pyjamas on.
Dean shrugged as well, and poked Seamus in the shoulder accusingly. "I knowe you were plotting, even if no one else does. I'll be ready."
~Tbc...
*cries* My poor, poor Remus, he has lost his love. WAH! I miss my Sirius!
I *promise* to upload *much* sooner! As in v. soon!
~Chapter Ten: Secrets and Plots~
Elian Indus, crown prince of the woodland elves, restlessly paced the small hut, muttering impatiently to himself in elvish. Since Draco and Harry had left the hut earlier that day, something had been nagging at the back of his mind, but he couldn't quite figure out what it was. Something to do with Kyrin and the Malfoys...
He rubbed his eyes tiredly and flopped down onto the bed. It was huge and took up most of one of the rooms coners. Lian soon found that the bed was far too large for him, having been made for a half-giant rather than an elf, and found himself beginning to feel rather lonely. Reaching out across the bed, he touched the wooden wall of the hut, trying to draw some small comfort from it. He wasn't surprised, however, to receive none, the wood was dead and had been so for many years. Sighing unhappily, he burrowed in under the blankets on the bed, and wrapped his arms around himself, staring fixedly at the wall.
"He wants me to love someone else." He whispered sadly to the wall. "Someone else! I could never..." His words were cut off by a harsh sob. "Why? Why does he want me to do that? How am I supposed to find someone else?" He buried his face in his pillow, and whispered, "I don't want to find someone else."
~*~
Harry and Ashley had arrived at Remus' office to find that neither he nor Sirius were there.
Leaning against the door, Ashley turned to Harry with an expectant look on her face. "What now?"
Harry shrugged. "We may as well go back."
Ashley didn't look to happy with that idea, but followed Harry when he left anyway.
About half way to the Gryffindor Tower, Ashley suddenly stopped and looked wistfully back the way that they had come from.
"Harry..." she said, reaching out and lightly touching his arm. "You go ahead without me. I'll see you later."
She sounded slightly nervous, as if she was afraid that Harry wouldn't let her go, and her hair had turned a light shade of purple to match her mood.
Harry smiled slightly, and nodded. "Of course."
Ashley sighed with relief and spun around quickly, her long hair narrowly missing whipping Harry in the face, and ran down the corridor. She paused briefly near the end and yelled a quick 'thank you' to Harry over her shoulder. Then she was gone, and Harry was left standing alone in the corridor, a bemused expression on his face.
~*~
Back in the Gryffindor common room, Hermione was busy receiving her second lecture within one night, although this one was being carried on in more hushed tones, with deadly glares being sent to anyone who looked like they were trying to listen in.
"Hermione Granger, you are unbeliavably narrow-minded and self-centred!" Seamus was saying angrily.
Hermione was sitting in an over-stuffed armchair by the fire, looking close to tears. "You don't even know what's happened!"
Seamus crossed his arms over his chest, and glared at her. Curled up behind him in another chair, a book in his hands, Martyn watched them, an amused expression on his face.
"I know enough." Seamus said coldly. "You're going to ruin your frienship with Harry, without any good reason."
"I'm not trying to ruin my friendship with Harry!" Hemione snapped. "And what is to you if I do, anyway?"
"Harry is my friend, Hermione." Seamus whispered harshly. "You do know what friends are don't you? People who stick together no matter what. Just because Harry made a decison that you don't agree with-"
"A decision that I don't agree with?" Hermione interrupted. "I don't agree with him that Draco Malfoy can be trusted. I don't agree that anyone can get that close to Malfoy without getting hurt. I don't agree that Malfoy isn't going to turn around and stab Harry in the back the moment the oppurtuninty arises. I don't want Malfoy to break one of my best friends hearts. I don't-" she stopped, realising that Seamus was watching her with a look of smug amusement on his face. "I don't think I should have said that." she finished weakly.
Ron, who was sitting beside her, looked as if he wanted to hit her, and was having a hard time restraining himself.
Seamus turned to Martyn with a triumphant grin on his face. "I told you it was Malfoy!" he said happily.
Martyn shook his head. "You didn't."
"Oh." Seamus' face fell momentaril, but he quickly brightened and shrugged. "Well I meant to tell you. I got distracted."
Martyn laughed, then nodded slightly towards the portrait whole, which had just swung open, and went back to reading his book.
"Harry!" Seamus cried, flinging his arms wide. "Just the person I wanted to see!" He took Harry by the arm and led him towards the stairs to the boy's dorms. "You and I need to have a talk."
Harry cast a wistful glance at Hermione and Ron, but they both seemed to be trying their hardest not to notice him, so with a sigh, he let them be and allowed himself to be led up to their room.
When they were there, Seamus pushed Harry down onto his bed and sat acroos for him.
Harry waited expectantly for Seamus to talk, wondering what it was going to be about. While he'd been friends with Seamus since their first year at Hogwarts, he had never been as close to Seamus as he was Ron. Seamus had always just been someone who he talked to in class or at mealtimes in the Great Hall. The Irish boy had always been best friends with Dean, and Harry with Ron.
Which left Harry wondering why Seamus had dragged him up to their dorm to have what was obviously going to be something of a private chat.
His patience was soon rewarded, as Seamus cleared his thoat and began to speak, although his words gave Harry a shock.
"Draco Malfoy." Seamus said calmly.
Harry blinked owlishly at him. "Draco Malfoy." he echoed, hoping that he didn't sound as nervous as he felt.
"Yeah," Seamus replied. "You know, the blond Slytherin? Something of a bastard, friends with Ash, seems to speak a fair bit of elvish, pretty sexy body too."
Harry choked a bit at Seamus' last commetn,a nd came to the conclusion that their conversation was heading rapidly into very forbidden territory. And that there was nothing he could do to stop it. "Get to the point, Seamus." he snapped.
Seamus folded his arms. "Impatient, are we?" he said, lifting an eyebrow. "Fine. Are you, or aren't you, going out with Draco Malfoy?"
Harry stared open-mouthed at Seamus for several minutes, then slowly lowered his head into his hands. "Crap."
Less than a second later, Seamus was off the bed and dancing around the room, laughing hysterically all the while. Finally he stopped, and sat back down, pulling Harry's head away from his hands as he did so.
"Why do you think I'm going out with Malfoy?" Harry asked quietly.
Seamus shrugged. "Quite a few reasons actually. First would be that outburst in Care of Magical Creatures, and the fact that you went with him to talk to the teacher. Next would be Ash's outburst about 'happiness', and then finally the fact that Hermione practically told me."
Harry looked at him, anger warring with shock on his face. "She told you?!"
Seamus nodded. "Just about, although I had to fill in a few blanks myself."
Harry groaned. "Who else knows?"
Seamus looked thoughtful. "Well, Hermione, Ron and Ashley, of course. Then there's me - another 'of course' - and Martyn."
"Martyn?" Harry blinked. "She told him as well? Why?"
"Well...I sort of told Martyn." Seamus said guiltily. "I had to!" he said, when Harry glared at him. "He's my boyfriend after all, I couldn't not tell him. You're lucky I didn't tell Dean. He's my best friend. But I know how much he likes to talk..."
"Dean likes to talk?" Harry asked. "This coming from the biggest gossip in Hogwarts? And I include Lavender and Pansy in that statement."
Seamus grinned sheepishly. "I won't tell anyone else." He promised. "But only on one condition."
Harry rolled his eyes. "What?"
"Tell me everything!" Seamus replied. "How long you've been together, how you got together, why you got together. When was your first kiss. Have you kissed:? Tell me absolutely everything!"
Harry laughed. "It all started with Ashley trying to get us to be friends..."
~*~
An hour later, Ron, Dean, and Neville all entered the room, only to find the curtains on Seamus' bed tightly shut, and quiet whispers coming from inside.
Sudden laughter errupted from behind the curtains, and scowling, Dean walked over to the bed and flung them open.
Seamus and Harry were lying on the bed, facing each other, and when Dean coughed, they both looked up expectantly.
"What," Dean asked curiously. "are you two plotting?"
Seamus feigned hurt. "Us? Plotting?" He turned to Harry. "Were we plotting, Harry?"
Harry grinned and shook his head.
"See!" Seamus said, sitting up and glaring at Dean in mock-annoyance. "We weren't plotting. You have such a low opinion of me, Dean."
Dean shook his head. "I know plotting when I see it, and you two were definitely plotting. Ron," he said, looking to Ron for support. "You know what plotting looks like, your brothers must do it all the time. So these two were plotting, weren't they?"
Ron, who had a good idea what that what they were talking about, hadn't been anything to do with a plot, shrugged non-commitedly.
Dean turned to Neville then. "They were plotting, weren't they, Neville?"
Neville, who had been trying to quietly put his pyjamas on with out attracting Deans attention, paused with his shirt half on. He looked to Seamus, who was doing his best imitation of hurt innocence, to Dean who was looking at him expectantly, and shrugged and went back to putting his pyjamas on.
Dean shrugged as well, and poked Seamus in the shoulder accusingly. "I knowe you were plotting, even if no one else does. I'll be ready."
~Tbc...
