Inklings of Celebrity
Chapter Five: Cooperation
A/N: ^_^ Although my stomach is probably aflame, or at least that's what it feels like, here's Chapter Five of this story. Enjoy and review.
September passed very quickly for the Hogwarts students. There were no Hogsmeade trips yet, but Professor Dumbledore had promised one in the near future. Harry was really excited about it, especially since he had money to spend. He was still extremely crazy for Selena, much to the annoyance of Hermione.
"You only like her because she's pretty," she pointed out, "And that still doesn't give you much of a chance, because she's always with the prettyboys over there." She gestured towards Selena, who was sitting with the Dragon Slayers, having an animated discussion about the best way to polish a sword. Ron snickered after walking past them, then plopped over by Hermione.
"Come on now, Hermione," he groaned, "You're jealous of her, aren't you?"
"I've no idea what you're talking about," she replied haughtily.
"Well, it's obvious. She's the one with the looks and the guys, and apparently knows about fighting. She's over there right now, talking to boys who are hanging on to her every word about sword polishing. So, what were you saying?"
Hermione turned red. "I'm going to the library," she said abruptly. Ron looked after her, grinning like mad. Harry was wondering what exactly was going on that day in the Gryffindor common room. He decided to talk to Selena for a bit, see if she'd go with him for the Hogsmeade weekend. He was personally amazed at how much easier he felt around females nowadays.
He went up to her timidly, and asked, "Could I talk to you for a minute?"
Selena looked startled. "Sure. You're Harry, aren't you?" He nodded, and Selena waved off to the Dragon Slayers, who were unsuccessfully trying to hide their smiles. When they found a quiet spot, Harry blurted out his question to her.
"I was wondering if you'd like to go to Hogsmeade, that's a wizard town, and get something to eat with me, maybe?" If it was possible for Selena to look like a bomb had possibly exploded in her hands, it was then. A utter look of surprise was on her face. She opened her mouth, closed it, then opened it again.
"But I don't even know you that well," Selena replied desperately. She wasn't very much sure what to do, and began franticly communicating with Dilandau through her mind. For one thing, she didn't know Harry, and besides, she'd been planning to go with Van and Hitomi. "And besides, I'm a horrible person. Ask Dilandau, or one of the others."
"Oh, er, that's quite alright," said Harry nervously. "But would you want to, you know, just hang around with some of us, then?" Selena looked relieved at this.
"Sure, for a while." Selena flashed him a grin, and Harry dragged her over to where Ron was situated on a nearby couch. She gave a small wave.
"So, how do you polish a sword?" Ron asked neutrally, although Harry could tell he was going to get a long answer. He did, and soon learned how to clean your sword of guts that just wouldn't come off, also. After this wonderful piece of information, however, he quickly changed the subject to a game of chess.
Selena had never played chess, Muggle or otherwise, and she found it fascinating. She picked it up quickly, and was having a long and successful game with Ron. Hermione eventually came back from the library, and although she gave both Harry and Ron particularly nasty glares, she was quite nice to Selena.
Meanwhile, the Dragon Slayers had been practicing their sword fighting skills. Most of the Gryffindors, seeing this, were afraid to tell them to stop the loud fighting. Selena was trying to concentrate on her game of chess, though, so she strode up to them. She pulled out a sword, stolen from Allen, and with a neat flick of the wrist, she disarmed Viole and Guimel, who had been the ones fighting.
"You're kind of loud, guys. Please practice outside. You'll have more space, anyway," she said calmly.
"Yes, Lady Selena," they replied. The Dragon Slayers had grown to think of Selena and Dilandau as their leaders. After all, they'd sworn loyalty to Dilandau, and that would include Selena, in a way. They obediently went out, taking their swords with them.
Selena went back to the chessboard, where the three friends were sitting with their mouths open, and acted as if nothing had happened. "What was that?" asked Hermione suspiciously.
"Well, they were getting kind of loud, and I wanted to concentrate on winning against Ron."
"So, why did they call you Lady Selena?" Hermione asked.
"Well, it's just what I'm called. Dilandau's Lord Dilandau." Selena's eyes widened. "Why did you ask?"
"Just wondering. I mean, you aren't really a Lady, of course. Are you?"
"Of course I am!" Selena said indignantly. "Why else would they call me that?" Hermione shrugged, and Harry almost laughed at her expression. She was sitting there, with an odd look on her face, almost as if she'd been told that she had failed something.
"Checkmate," Selena said with an expression very similar to one on our favorite pyro's face during battle. It reminded Harry of Lord Voldemort's face while cursing someone, making him shudder. She abruptly got up. "I think I'll go watch the others fight. Thanks for the game."
Harry stared wistfully at her while his friends seemed frozen. After a while, Ron spoke. "That is one extremely interesting girl," he commented.
"What a show off! Going in front of them to knock swords out of their hands, and telling us she's a lady!" Hermione exclaimed. "There is something odd about that girl, something that doesn't fit. And I'm going to find out what it is." The words were spoken with a heavy finality, breaking Harry out of his reverie.
Ron winced. Hermione was known to be extremely good at 'finding things out', and there was no doubt she'd succeed, in his opinion.
Meanwhile, down by the lake, the Dragon Slayers were sword fighting, with Selena and Dilandau coaching them. The two had picked one side to cheer and coach for, and since they were very competitive, sparks literally were flying. Eventually Folken walked up also to see the sword fighting, and of course make sure no one got hurt (he was a teacher, after all). Professor Snape bumped into them also, but unlike Folken, he was less tolerant.
In fact, he went into a great rage. His new At-Least-Try-To-Make-Miserable person was Dilandau, and this was a beautiful opportunity. Besides, Folken had stolen the job that he had wanted, so it would be wonderful to get him in trouble also. What fun!
"Stop that at once!" he shouted to the students, who weren't exactly listening to him. Folken had to repeat the order to them in his quiet, calm voice. This time, they listened to him. "Fighting like this on school grounds is NOT ALLOWED! You may think you're special and able to break rules, but you are most certainly not!" After this tirade, he turned onto the other teacher, "What were you thinking, letting them fight like this! They could've gotten hurt, and you didn't even lift a finger! Didn't Dumbledore go over the rules with you?"
After a while of this, everyone was sick of Snape's crap. He'd gone back to yelling at the students, while Dilandau stood smirking with Selena also smirking by his side. The DragonSlayers were lying on the ground, staring at the sky. Folken decided to take over the situation, there were already students standing to watch.
He put his strong hand on Professor Snape's shoulder, making him wince in pain, and forced him around with a grip of steel (no pun intended). "These students know how to fight, they wouldn't hurt each other. I was supervising them, in fact. I approve of them keeping fit; don't you?" He never took his hand off the man's shoulder. He'd be getting a taste of his own medicine, although more painfully.
"I-I n-n-never meant anything. Of course th-they must keep fit. I see what you mean," Snape stammered. Many students were grinning harder than they ever had in their lives. Folken let go of Professor Snape's shoulder, which was probably badly bruised. Snape scampered off like a scared rabbit, while the students cheered loudly. Excepting the Slytherins, of course.
"Right then," Folken ordered briskly, "Enough for today. Get back to your common rooms, now." The students made a hasty exit, except for the Gaean students, who took a leisurely stroll around first. Harry mulled over this for a long time in his mind. At least now Snape was scared stiff of someone, and was, besides this, picking on Selena's friend. He had to admit that Dilandau was much better at defending himself then he was.
The next week was the first Hogsmeade trip of the year. Selena had been somewhat worried about it, since she didn't have two coins to rub together. After hours of obsessing and worrying about it, she finally came up with an idea, and asked Dilandau to come to her through their minds' link.
He showed up in her dorm a few minutes later, not really caring that he probably wasn't allowed (when has he ever cared about rules?). She told him her idea: She was going to pull him inside herself, then let him out. When he appeared, she'd make him be wearing a lot of gold to sell. He readily agreed, and they set to work on that.
Later on, they appeared in the common room, carrying gold necklaces, chains and crowns with them. The two made their way over to the DragonSlayers, and told them of their plan. Van and Hitomi came over soon after to talk to Selena, since he was extremely curious about the gold. She told the couple what they were going to do, and dragged them into the plan.
When they went to Hogsmeade the next week, they carried a big sack with them. They sold it to a strange jewelry store on the outskirts of the town. Selena divided it equally between the nine of them, even though Dilandau hadn't wanted Van to get anything. Then their shopping began, and they went almost literally mad.
After the trip, the group marched up to the Gryffindor common room to compare their treasures and share the candy. Van and Dilandau, strangely, hadn't tried to kill each other. This was mainly because of Selena and Hitomi, who had dubbed themselves the peacekeepers of the group. The two females shared the same dormitory, and had felt curiously affiliated because of the Gaean War.
Their Hogsmeade voyage marked the beginning of a social group between them. They called themselves the Gaea group. Although Van never did make friends with Dilandau, they only had an uncountable amount of duels, which usually ended in a teacher intervening before they killing, scarred or hurt each other. Of course, their Quidditch practices were another story...
A/N: So there you go, Chapter Five! I had originally planned to make Van and Dilandau friends, but that would be strange and untrue! Since that's not happening, I'm just having the females closest to them (I am SO not talking about Dilandau and Hitomi, if that's what you're thinking) be the ones to keep them from killing each other. Although I promised in an earlier chapter that I'd be putting Ron's sister and the Dragon Slayers in more, I haven't. But I'm leading up to it, don't worry! Along with an extremely interesting Quidditch practice. Review to give me your thoughts on this story!