Disclaimer: I do not, in any way shape or form, own any character in the Harry Potter series. If I did, do you really think I'd be writing for a fan fiction website when I could be in Bermuda getting a lavish tan? No my friends, a tan in any circumstance is my first choice.
Author's Notes: Again, sorry about the delay of the chapter. However, I actually have an excuse this time! *grins proudly* You see, my parents took away my Internet so there was no way I could get all you lovely people the chapter any sooner. I'll try not to let that happen again. BUT, I made this one extra, extra long so you can't complain! =P
Because my Internet is at the moment GONE *sniff*, I can't individually thank the reviewers. It sucks, but I promise beyond all promises I will do it next chapter. Cheers!
~Raven Black~
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
(last chapter)
"Well, there's nothing else for it. I don't suppose I'll get any Azkaban time for this, they are poisonous insects after all," Draco drawled lazily. He flung out his wand and hissed, "Avada Kedavra" before Harry could stop him.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
There came a huge BANG from outside the train car and everyone inside stopped what they were doing abruptly. Hermione's book fell off of her lap with a thud as Ginny got up slowly and looked out the window.
"Can you see anything Gin?" Fred asked, looking a little shaken. Ginny squinted, getting up on the velvet side seats and then shrugged, sliding back down to sit on them.
"No…they must have gone around the car, I can't see anything from here."
"Well, I think we don't have to worry about stopping the insects anymore," Pansy said smugly, crossing her legs. "Sounds like Draco's got the situation under control." Almost instantaneously, the Gryffindors in the compartment rolled their eyes.
"Honestly Parkinson, do you really believe Malfoy's that special?" Hermione replied sarcastically. "Because I can certainly see where you're getting that from…so unbelievingly intelligent, and such a good, kind person too to boot…my, what fine taste you have." Hermione suppressed her laughter and sat next to Ginny, who was close to giggling as well. Pansy's dark eyes narrowed, her pug like features showing now more than ever in her evident anger.
"And I suppose you have much better than me Granger? Why don't you just give it up with that Bulgarian freak and run into Weasley's overly and very unattractive freckled arms like we've all been waiting for you to do?" She smirked widely as both Hermione and Ron's faces turned a deep shade of maroon.
"Viktor is a perfect gentleman Parkinson, a perfect gentleman, and you accusing me of-of thoughts that never once ran through my mind is outrageous!" Hermione said bristling. Ginny, meanwhile, was biting her lip hard to stop from laughing. Oh just give it up Hermione, she's right on this one, Ginny thought.
"In other words Parkinson, shut your gob before I make you!" Ron snarled, his wand out and at the ready. Pansy shrugged, still smirking. She knew she had won this battle.
Crabbe and Goyle grunted at the same time with utter surprise. The steady flow of bugs had stopped. Fred and George were looking at the gap warily too.
"Its stopped Hermione, can we sit down now?" George asked pleadingly, flexing his hand as it was in utter pain from all of the jinxing. He cowered under Hermione's stern gaze.
"Not until they come back in here to report what that bang was! Stay there." Grumbling, Fred and George sat near the gap, wands out just in case.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
As soon as Draco had uttered the words, a jet of light had come out of his wand tip. It formed a large dome over the bugs and with a flash the dome folded in on itself, with a huge BANG. Harry's jaw dropped as the green light vanished to reveal thousands of dead bugs in a large heap (A/N IRL: *heap*).
"What in the bloody blazes are you doing Malfoy?" Harry said in disbelief as Draco nonchalantly put his wand back in his pocket and turned to walk back into the carriage.
"Getting rid of our big problem," he said casually.
"Do you realize how much trouble you could be in if a teacher found out?" Harry hissed, not sounding unlike Hermione in her worst state of panic. Draco smirked.
"Now look Potter, we're out here in the middle of NOWHERE, not likely to be found anytime soon, and we had poisonous bugs crawling in very fast. I don't think that you could have done any better, so why don't you just shut up a minute and let someone else take the glory for once?" Draco waited for a response, but Harry was completely lost for words. This made Draco's smirk broaden as he walked off to the train carriage door and flung it open, silently congratulating himself for making his enemy go speechless.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
There was a shocked silence s everyone turned to see Draco leaning against the doorframe, looking very pleased with himself indeed. Crabbe and Goyle didn't look up at all, as they were still scratching their heads over the bugs stopping, but the rest were giving him a what-happened-out-there look. Ginny in particular was curious as to why Harry wasn't there.
Pansy's anguished yell made everyone jump in surprise, and Draco nearly fell out of his casual position against the doorframe as she flung herself upon him.
"DRACO!!! Oh my God, are you all right? Did they bite you??" She howled and Draco looked down from his 6 foot frame at her in utter disgust.
"Good Lord woman will you never get the bloody hint?" he said in complete exasperation, throwing her off. She squealed in surprise, getting thrown out of the car and into an unsuspecting Harry. The occupants watched in interest as Pansy went flying into him and they were both catapulted onto the grassy ground. Unable to contain himself any longer, Draco burst out laughing, and sat on a seat wiping his eyes. Hermione and Ron had gotten up very quickly to go see if Harry was ok, but Ginny, George and Fred had burst out into hysterics as well against their own wishes. Crabbe and Goyle sat up, blinking.
"Ginny!" Ron said sharply, turning to face his giggling sister. "It's not funny!" She clamped her mouth shut and Draco frowned, finally stopping his chuckles.
"It's not up for you to decide what her humor is you know," he commented dryly, turning his gray gaze onto Ron. Ron glared at him.
"She's my sister Malfoy, not yours thank God." He glared at Ginny too, who bit her lip and turned to look out the window uncomfortably. Draco's frown deepened, but he shook himself and forced himself to look out at the now hysterical Pansy.
"Get off me you filthy Gryff!" came Pansy's shrill voice. Fred and George howled with laughter when they saw her beating him with her fists and him trying desperately to get away.
"Well excuse me, but I'm not on the top here am I!" Harry's deep voice countered. Hermione bit the inside of her cheek to stop from giggling, and even Ron momentarily wished that he had a camera to capture the moment. Finally, Pansy rolled off of Harry, very disgruntled, and trudged back up the hill and into the carriage, not daring to look at anyone. Harry came up, trying to wipe the grass stains off of his shirt and rolled his eyes at Ron.
Ginny turned from the window to look at Harry and Pansy and a smile played about her lips as she saw their expressions. Pansy was looking murderous, Harry annoyed.
Suddenly there was a screeching at the door as an owl tapped on the windows with its talons. Draco quickly strode over and opened the door, holding out his arm for the owl to come and perch on. The owl did so, nipping his ear sharply before flying back off leaving Draco with a roll of parchment in his hand. Everyone watched curiously as he opened it and scanned it quickly with his eyes.
"Right!" he said abruptly, causing everyone to jump. "The other carriages have arrived at Hogwarts and Dumbledore is trying to figure out a way to get us back. Until then, he…" here Draco's lip curled in annoyance, "…wants us to get along and get to know each other."
"WHAT?!?" Ron exploded suddenly, grabbing the parchment from Draco's hands. His now furious blue eyes ran quickly over the page and he threw it down in disgust. "This is all planned I'll bet!! Inter-House Relations and all that crap." He sat down on a chair, flushed with fury. Ginny quietly walked over and picked it up with her delicate hands, reading it carefully. Draco watched her with interest but soon stopped when he saw Hermione raising her eyebrow at him. Ginny sighed.
"I reckon Ron's right. You know Dumbledore; always trying to make us get along…this is probably a setup. We won't be able to get out of here until we're civil to each other." She handed the parchment to Fred who was holding out his hands and grinned slightly when he cried out indignantly.
"This isn't our battle! This is your lot's, we should be up there at our last Feast!" He threw the paper over to Harry and sat down next to Ron, an identical expression of anger on his face. Harry looked down at the paper and jumped when he saw new words forming on it. He read them out loud.
"Many apologies to Fred and George Weasley, who were not meant to be in the carriage at the time." Ginny started laughing hard along with Hermione as the twin's expressions darkened considerably.
"Easy enough for him to say, he's not stuck in here with his siblings and Slytherin scum!" George commented in a bad temper.
"Do we count for nothing?" Hermione asked grinning, pointing to herself and Harry.
"No," Draco and Pansy said at the same time, but Hermione was laughing too hard to bother retaliating.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
After the laughter had subsided, there was an awkward silence as everyone thought of what to do.
"Well!" Hermione said cheerfully after maybe five minutes. Everyone looked up at her, stunned.
"Well what Herms?" Harry asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Well, I was thinking that-that maybe we should do one of those getting to know you games…maybe Dumbledore will consider that enough and we can get out of here." She shrugged, flushing a little. Pansy rolled her eyes.
"Brilliant Granger, what are we supposed to do then? Go around the circle and say our name and favorite color?"
"It's a start," Ginny agreed with Hermione, putting her legs underneath her like a cushion. "Maybe not favorite color though…full name, favorite subject, hobby…that should do it." She almost laughed again at the equally horrified looks that Ron, Harry and Draco were all giving her.
"Are you insane? I don't think I really need to go around telling them." Ron jerked his head to the sulking Slytherins at the other end of the car, "my favorite hobbies."
"Then we can stay in here until Christmas," Pansy interjected impatiently. "I need to get to Hogwarts; I need a change of clothes."
"I'll say you do," Hermione muttered, and Pansy glared at her.
"This is your idea, you start if you're so clever," Pansy said dangerously quiet. Hermione shrugged and grinned.
"Fine I will. I'm Hermione Marie Granger, my favorite subject is Arithmancy and I like to read."
Draco snorted and muttered, "We couldn't figure that out for ourselves?" Hermione glared at him.
"You go then!"
Draco shrugged. "If it will get me away from you idiots…Draco Atticus Malfoy, Potions, scaring first years." He leaned back and smirked. Ginny glowered at him.
"A real hobby Malfoy!"
"Fine!" he snapped. "I like to cook. And I don't want to hear any remarks on that!" he said quickly when he saw the look of absolute delight cross over Ron's face. Ron nodded, chortling.
"Of course of course, Master Chef Malfoy!" Draco scowled, and Ron silently decided to go next, tucking away the cooking information in a mental file. "Ronald Nathan Weasley, I like lunch, but if you want a real subject Divination because it's great to make fun of her, and I like to eat." Ginny giggled. "What??"
"You like to eat…that's an understatement!" she said giggling hard. Ron grinned.
"Yeah well-you go then Gin, eh?" She took in a deep breath to stop giggling and then started.
"Virginia Eve Weasley. I like Charms and sketching. Happy Ron?" she said, looking back over at him.
"Yeah."
"Good." Ginny turned to Harry, who was being rather quiet. "Your turn then Harry." She said, blushing slightly. Draco snarled at this but no one noticed, especially not Harry who just shrugged.
"All right. Harry James Potter. I like Transfiguration although McGonagall gives loads of homework and I like Quidditch. Erm…why don't you go George?"
"Sure. George Michael Weasley, Muggle Studies, inventing pranks." He turned to his twin. "Your turn Freddie me boy!" Fred chuckled.
"Of course! Frederick Samuel Weasley, Charms, selling pranks." Draco raised a blond eyebrow.
"Selling pranks?"
Fred nodded, looking very smug. "We've only just bought the Shrieking Shack…we should be in business by next summer." Despite himself, Draco was very impressed but covered it up with a snide remark.
"What did you have to sell in order to get the run down place eh?" Ron snarled and started over towards Malfoy but Hermione grabbed his shoulder. Draco chuckled. "All right then Pans, you give it a go." Pansy beamed at the nickname.
"Pansy Marigold Violet Rose Parkinson," she ignored the looks of disbelief at the long name, "Divination, shopping. Okay, Crabbe your turn."
Crabbe stared blankly at her. "What?"
"Oh for heaven's sakes!" Draco snapped irritably. "His name is Vincent Alexander Crabbe, he has no favorite subject because he fails them all and his hobbies are eating like the Weasel over there." Crabbe nodded like that settled it and Draco continued, as everyone in the compartment started to laugh. "The other git's name is Gregory Oliver Goyle, he likes Potions and he also enjoys eating." He gave the pair of them a disgusted look before turning to look at the others who were practically on the floor in laughing. Draco waited patiently until they stopped.
"Okay, well if that was enough then it will only be a matter of minutes until we're back at Hogwarts," Harry commented, getting comfortable on a seat next to Ginny. She flushed slightly, and they all fell into a waiting silence.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
"Fantastic, what happened to 'a matter of minutes' Potter?" Pansy sneered twenty minutes later. Harry looked puzzled.
"I don't know…I guess we need to do more."
"Great!" Ron said heavily, with much sarcasm. "Just fantastic! Here I am, stuck in a train compartment when I should be at Hogwarts EATING!" He leant back against the windows, scowling. Hermione patted his shoulder sympathetically.
"I know!" Ginny said brightly. Everyone turned to look at her. "A game of Confessions!" Fred and George groaned and Fred commented dryly,
"And the fourteen year old speaks, ladies and gentlemen!" Ginny's face fell, and she blinked back the tears threatening to spill over her long lashes.
"Oh come on Gin, you can't expect us to want to play that!" George replied to her saddened expression. Hermione looked over at Ginny, who looked thoroughly embarrassed.
"Well, maybe that's more along the lines of what Dumbledore was thinking," she said, trying to make Ginny feel better. Ginny smiled gratefully.
"Yeah, maybe if we play a couple rounds of that…that horrible, very girly game," Ron said, wanting to cheer Ginny up but not able to hide the disdain he had for the game, "…maybe we can get out of here!" He looked over at Harry for support and Harry sighed.
"Fine, fine, I'm in, but only for like, two rounds all right?" he looked over at Ginny who gave him a brilliant smile. Both Harry and Draco felt their insides turn over, and they both mentally slapped themselves.
"Well I want to get out of here and much as you do, believe it or not," Draco said, sitting on the floor. "I'm in." Fred and George looked at each other, identical sly grins coming over their faces.
"What say we make this a little more interesting, eh?" Fred said, gleefully rubbing his hands together. Pansy groaned in disbelief.
"Is that all you two think about? Gambling?" George put on an innocent wide eyed look.
"Gambling? Oh no, my dear Pansy," she scowled, "but now that you mention it…what a corking idea!" He grinned, taking out his moneybag. "We put the questions in a hat, pertaining to the people in this room…you know, like 'who do you think is most likely to get Minister for Magic?' dumb questions like that. Then, we bet on what the answer will be."
"How do you know we won't just say something different so that you'll lose your money?" Draco asked, intrigued nonetheless. Fred winked.
"Ah, that's where the genius comes in. Harry, Ron gave you a Sneakoscope in your third year, did he not?" Harry looked up and nodded.
"Yeah, what's you point?"
"Do you have it with you Harry?" Hermione asked, starting to get what the twins were going after and getting a little excited despite herself.
"I think so, hold on…" he rummaged through his small bag and triumphantly held up the small object that looked like a top. "Here we are!" Everyone looked at it for a moment as Harry set it down on the floor and it balanced perfectly still. Ginny tilted her head slightly, wondering when it would fall over. Fred and George looked delighted.
"Excellent! Now this will be a good game of Confessions….I daresay better than any of your little slumber party girly ones Gin." Ginny looked up and blushed scarlet.
"How so Fred?" she replied as calmly as she could.
"In this way dearest sister," he said grinning. "We put questions in a bag of sorts; we take turns taking them out. We bet on what the person's answer will be, and then they answer. We'll know that they're lying if the Sneakoscope starts going off. Simple as that, and a hell of a lot of gold for us I daresay." He grinned wider than ever, ignoring the horrified look on Ginny's face.
But…but that means…they'll know my secrets!! Oh why did I have to suggest this? She thought miserably. Ron noticed her face.
"Cheer up Gin, it's not like we're going to ask you very personal questions anyway…just enough so that Dumbledore will get us out of here!" he scowled darkly around the carriage. The sound of eight moneybags coming out of their owner's pockets echoed throughout the carriage, and is if in some sort of cheesy musical, their voices came together as they said,
"I'm in!"
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
A/N: mwah ha ha ha ha, I could leave you all here to wonder what's going to happen for another week, but as I might have mono and am here sick again, I'm going to write another chapter! Let me hear you cheer!!!