Chapter Nine: What Almost Happened

The boys came out from around the corner, they had been hiding in, after the girls went to their rooms.

"Why do girls have to have so many levels?" Ron asked, running a hand through his hair.

"Hey, I knew Parvati acted like that." Dean said, stifling a laugh.

"Ginny's way to shy." Harry said actually letting out a slight laugh. Seamus shook his head ruefully.

"You two are real prates." He said, pointing at Harry and Ron. Ron and Harry nodded.

"Yeah, we've already established that." Ron said. Dean rolled his eyes.

"What Seamus means is, of course girls act different around other girls then they do around guys." He said. "I mean, my sister, when she would have a boyfriend over for dinner, acted quite different then she would if it was only girls and family." He finished.

"He's right you know." The boys heard a girl say behind them. They turned around and came face to face with the assistant flying couch, that used to go to school at Hogwarts, Katie Bell.

"Um, hello Katie." Harry stammered to his former teammate. Katie laughed a little.

"Hullo, Harry. I'm just going to pretend I didn't catch a group of boys in the girls dormitories. But before I do that, I'm gonna give you some advise." She said. "The eight of yours little drama isn't that much of a secret to the Gryffindor community, especially to a girl that students still talk to. I've heard all the versions of the story. I've heard that the girls placed a bet, I've heard the version where the boys placed a bet. I heard the four different versions where some anonymous teacher caught a pair of you snogging in the broom shed. And that's one of the more believable ones. So I have some advise for whichever story truly happened. Deal. Embrace the pain, spank your inner moppet, whatever, but get over it. The eight of you all know who you want, and the counter part's agree. So stop wining, and Deal. Now get down stairs before a get McGonaggal." Katie finished, pointing toward the stairs with a firm look on her face. The boys did what they were told, and went down the stairs. Then they went back up to their own dorm.

"Katie Bell, mad. Never seen that." Harry said earnestly. The other three boys nodded.

"Very snappy, that one is." Ron added. Seamus started heading toward the door again.

"Hey guys, I gotta go talk to Lavender. Promised her I would, so I'm gonna see if I can get someone to go get her from her room." He said before he left. Dean rolled his eyes and then followed.

"Yeah, and I should probable talk to Parvati as well." He said, before he also left.

"Hey, lets go down to the common room. I really want to get out of the dorms." Ron said. Harry nodded, not really caring, and followed Ron out of the room.



Lavender sat in the common room, which she had entered about a second ago, thinking. 'He's probable just going to blow me off' She thought.

"Lavender, I'm glad you're down here." She heard a male voice say behind her. 'Or maybe he isn't' She thought to herself before she stood up, and turned to face Seamus. "Can we sit?" He asked. Lavender nodded, and they both sat down. Seamus put his hand on the chairs arm rest, and then moved his hand off. There was a bit of a black smudge on the chair arm now. Lavender grabbed Seamus's hand and turned it over so she could look at his palm. It had something that looked like shoe polish on it.

"Hum, that looks just like the shoe polish that accidentally got on the doorknob to my dorm room............Isn't that bizarre? Aren't you just going, 'ooohhhh!'?" She asked. Seamus pulled his hand away, blushing slightly.

"It's, um, broom polish. Harry was polishing his Firebolt, and I picked up the polish container." He said quickly. Lavender nodded, not believing a word, but decided to let it go.

"Okay, so what did you want to talk to me about?" She asked. Seamus sighed.

"I'm sorry. I..." He started, but he didn't get to go any further. There was an explosion on the other side of the common room. Without even looking, Lavender and Seamus knew it was a Weasly stink bomb.

"I wish people would stop ordering those!" Lavender said quickly, before her and Seamus had to run to the separate dorm room to get away from the smell.



Parvati met Lavender halfway up the stairs, and they ran to their door together.

"If Fred and George were still at Hogwarts, I'd kill them." Parvati grumbled as her and Lavender went in the door.

"Why?" Hermione asked from her spot on the bed, where she was sitting reading.

"Well, me and Dean had been talking for awhile. We were about to kiss, right?" Parvati said, Hermione nodded. "Yeah, well, suddenly, someone sets off a Weasly stink bomb." She finished in an annoyed voice. Lavender nodded and then told her little story.

"Well, guys," Hermione said after Lavender finished. "You know you have your guys at least. Unlike Ginny, who hasn't even gotten a hint from Harry." Hermione said.

"What about you and Ron? You never told us." Parvati said, trying to hide the fact that she already knew. Hermione sighed.

"He said he wants to be friends." She said. "And, I'm okay with that, it just...." Hermione sighed again. "I really like him." She finished.