Author's note: I didn't realize how hard it is to write a story and update it until recently! But count on me, I will stay true to my promise to you. This chapter marks some very interesting events so . . .enjoy! And if you're just tuning in and haven't reviewed yet, please do so! Thanks!
**************************************Harry*********************************************
September rolled in and out of Hogwarts like a storm and soon, the only event on students' minds was the Halloween ball. To Harry, October marked the end of detentions with Professor McGonagall and a string of quidditch matches. Though he sorely missed talking to Ron and Scipio, Harry found that he could concentrate better in Potions and he was actually becoming very good at brewing his potions, even getting A's on his potions (which had to be a series of firsts). Harry's schedule was as full as ever, having quidditch practice with the Gryffindor team every Monday Wednesday and Friday with the occasional Saturday practice after a Hogsmeade trip.
The team was extraordinary and there was nothing holding Gryffindor back from taking the quidditch cup this year, besides the tension between Ron and Scipio on a day-to-day basis. Harry had given the open position to Scipio and left Ron his position as keeper because it was the fair thing to do, but every now and then, when Ron wasn't up to par on his keeping skills, Scipio would be sure to slip out some snide remark and the boys would soon be at it over and over again. Harry soon accepted it and gave up trying to bring the boys together, acknowledging it as the way things were. Hermione wasn't satisfied in the slightest and had even started distancing herself from the two boys, which turned into yet another feud: who had chased Hermione away. Harry could only pray that by the time of the Halloween dance, things would get somewhat better.
**************************************Scipio*********************************************
Scipio was very tired of arguing with the "Weasel" but until Ron admitted that he, Scipio was twelve times a better quidditch player than him, it seemed that the war would be fueled and go on forever. But today, Scipio had more important things to do than pick at the "Weasel". He had to find a date to the Halloween dance . . . by tonight.
It was just another beautiful sunny October morning, and Scipio had just awoken to the sounds of Harry groaning in his sleep with the usual screams and arguments with himself. At first, Scipio had thought it mighty odd and almost frightening, but when he asked Harry about it, he felt relieved that Harry wasn't doing more than screaming in pain in his sleep. Harry had been tortured beyond belief and if he screamed out in his sleep every now and then, it was perfectly understandable. Scipio made his way to the bathroom where he took a nice long shower and brushed and teased his hair until it had finally achieved its usual standard of excellence. Quickly throwing on a light-blue sweater and a pair of slacks, because Ron was starting to wake up, he scurried down to the Gryffindor common room to mingle with the ladies.
"Hey Scipio, the Halloween dance is tonight and I was wondering if you had a date yet."
"Gee, I would, but I'm taken already." That was his reply to anyone below the sixth year or somebody who didn't appeal to him in particular. Scipio felt if he was to go to the school dance with a girl, he was going to go with the prettiest most intelligent girl at Hogwarts.
Do not ask why that certain girl was Hermione Granger.
**************************************Ron*********************************************
When Ron woke up, he heard Scipio sneaking down the steps. Waiting until he'd left the room, Ron went directly into the bathroom to find a horrible mess of towels strewn across the floor, toothpaste around the rim of the sink and countless hair-care products that belonged to Scipio. Last night, Ron almost added a hair-loss potion to the teeth of Scipio's comb, but Harry banged upon the door and called him out of there after seeing the open page in the potion's book and the left-out ingredients.
"Ron, I know you and Scipio have your differences, but leave his hair out of it! I swear the two of you will kill me before Voldemort ever gets the chance!"
Ron picked up his wand and muttered scorgify and soon the entire bathroom was spotless again. Ron really disliked cleaning up after Scipio, but it always gave him something to nag about. After showering and dressing, he had a mind to finish what he couldn't finish the night before, but Harry gave a sound knock on the bathroom door.
"Ron? Is that you? Could you hurry, I really have to go-"
"Alright, alright Harry! Just let me brush my hair, we have practice this morning?"
"Nope."
"This afternoon?"
"Ron, have you lost your marbles? It's Halloween!"
"No way, you're joshing me . . .I've been marking off my calendar for weeks."
"Not for Halloween. It says you've been counting off the day until Scipio dies. . .Ron!"
"Oh come on, Harry, I wasn't serious!"
"How would I know? The way you two carry on from day to day. Oh and Ron, don't use the purple towel."
"Why not?"
"Scipio's bewitched it. It'll make you turn purple."
Ron looked into the mirror and screamed. His brightly colored red hair stood out against his vivid shade of purple skin.
"I'm going to kill him! Where is he?"
"Now Ron, don't get carried away, it can't be that bad…"
Ron flung the door open wide and showed Harry what wasn't so bad. Harry unsuccessfully tried to retain his laughter but ended up rolling on the floor in hysterics.
"Oh my god, Ron! You look like a Smurf!"
"Smurfs are blue, dumbass, I'm violet! What am I going to do? I can't go anywhere like this, I still need a date for the dance!"
"Well, you can always tell her you were in the festive spirit, maybe she'll buy it."
Harry toppled over backwards and kicked his legs in the air frantically, dying with laughter.
"Who were you trying to ask, anyway?"
"Hermione."
Harry stopped laughing and looked dead at Ron.
"Really? Um. . . I take it you haven't asked her yet, huh?"
"No, that's why I'm in such a rush to meet up with her today."
"Well. . . Why don't you ask out Lavender or Paravati? They don't have a date to the dance."
"I wanted to ask Hermione, Harry. . . to be honest, I kind of . . .like her."
"Oh, I see. Well, you didn't hear this from me, but you might want to find Hermione and fast."
"Why? Are there other guys clawing over Hermione?"
"No . . .Just Scipio."
Ron growled and tore out of the dormitory in rage. There was no way Ron was going to let him take her to the dance. There was no way in hell!
**************************************Scipio*********************************************
Boy was Hermione a hard one to find! Scipio had searched the Owlry, the library, the great hall, outdoors and he'd even tried to sneak into the girls dormitory, all in vain! Where could she be?
It was then that Scipio heard great fits of laughter. What in Merlin's name is going on? Scipio asked himself, wanting to get a better view, he pushed his way into the Great Hall. What he saw made him laugh.
There was Ron, as purple as . . .well, Scipio had never seen anything that purple before.
"Hey Ron, nice costume!" Scipio called out to Ron who was accompanied by Harry and a very flustered . . .Hermione!
Ron began to stand up, but Harry whispered something in his ear and he sat down reluctantly. Scipio's little prank had gone better than he'd expected, he'd thought that Ron would only turn one shade of purple rather than eight. Scipio slowly made his way to the table where Hermione glared reproachfully at him.
"Hermione, I've been looking for you everywhere! I had something to ask you!" Scipio said, sitting across from Harry and Ron.
"Well I have a feeling that what I'm about to ask her is ten times more important than anything you're going to ask her so I'll go first!" Ron yelled at Scipio looking back at Hermione with great interest.
"Will you go to the dance with me?" Both boys blurted out at the same time. Then they lounged for each other and were once again in a scrap on the floor of the Great Hall. This time, nobody had to break them up; Hermione's loud screech was sufficient.
"No! I will not go to the dance with either of you, always fighting and yelling and competing about everything! I already have a date to the dance!"
"Who?" Ron, and Scipio asked, dusting themselves off and sitting back down at the table.
"Actually, I'm going with . . .with . . .Harry!"
Harry looked at Hermione with obvious shock. "You are? I mean-you are!"
"How come you never told me, Harry?" Ron asked in disappointment.
"Because he can never talk to you or Scipio without some kind of shouting match evolving in some way, shape, or form, that's why! Now, if you will excuse me, Harry and I have some planning to do!"
Hermione grabbed a hold of Harry's arm and dragged him out of the Great Hall with everyone staring.
**************************************Harry*********************************************
"Smooth one, Hermione, I was afraid they were going to turn one another into mincemeat!"
"Yeah, well, now that I have to go to the dance with you, I'll have to put my studying on hold. They are really starting to get out of control with this whole feuding business and I don't know how much more of it I can take!"
"At least you don't share a dormitory room with them! They're like a bunch of psychos!"
"We have to do something about the two of them and quickly, before somebody looses and eye! Skin tone is enough! But, I have to admit, Scipio did a number on Ron when he did that towel prank, it was rather funny."
"You should have seen what I caught Ron trying to do last night! Brewed a hair-loss potion and was seconds away from adding it into Scipio's hair gel."
"Oh, that's awful! Well, at least we can look forward to a semi-good night tonight, though I was actually planning on going with Ron."
"You were? You know, he really likes you . . .you all should take your relationship with one another to a higher level . . .it might work out."
"Maybe I will, but he has a lot of maturing to do. Now, let's go prepare for this dance!"
Later that night. . .
Harry was waiting at the bottom of the girls' dormitory steps for Hermione. They'd both agreed to wear the oddest things they owned in their closet. Harry wore a pair of Dudley's Smelting pants and a glitter tube-top he'd rented from Paravati Patil so he could look like Brittany Spears (unsuccessful by the way). He couldn't prepare himself for what Hermione had chosen to wear, however.
Hermione had her hair sticking straight up in the air and overdid her makeup entirely. She wore a long pink dress with big ink stains and (was that owl droppings?) all along the front. Even from the top of the stairs, Harry could tell she was dressed as Frankenstein's bride. Harry and Hermione toppled over backwards laughing.
"You look absolutely . . .gay!"
"And you look absolutely beautiful. You should try this look after Halloween as well . . . you even smell better."
"Oh shut up! Who did dumb and dumber find to go to the dance with?"
"Scipio is going with Paravati Patil, she told me when I was trying on her . . .er . . .tube top. Ron isn't going to the party."
"What? Why not?"
"He doesn't have a costume . . .or a date."
"The poor thing!"
"I told him he could borrow one of my long white T-shirts and go as Tom Cruise and say her was imitating a scene from Risky Business, but he didn't understand the humor in it. He's never seen the movie."
"Oh, that would have been awfully funny. I'm just upset that he chose to miss out this year."
"Yeah, me too."
Harry and Hermione walked into the Great Hall where everyone was dressed in the most outrageous outfits. Professor Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall performed some kind of conjoining spell to make them appear to be conjoined twins. Dumbledore seemed to be having the time of his life and Professor McGonagall seemed to just be there because she had to. None of the Slytherins dressed up for the occasion, Harry quickly noticed. That didn't stop them from commenting on everyone else's outfits.
"Ha, is that a mask? You're not wearing one? Oops!"
Harry and Hermione quickly found Scipio and Paravati who were dressed like hobos who had come directly off the street.
"Wow Harry! Dressed as Brittany Spears?"
"Yeah! How'd you guess?"
"The boobs."
The dance was going smoothly and everyone was having the time of their lives, dancing and partying. Hermione and Harry were sweating like pigs by the end of the fifth song. That's when everything went haywire.
The music stopped completely and the lights went off. The Great Hall was filled with screams and shouts (and even jeers form the gentlemen) and suddenly, a spot light appeared on the stage.
There was Ron, dressed in only Harry's long white T-Shirt, a pair of white socks, black sunglasses and (his own) white knickers sliding onto the stage. The Hogwarts Great Hall erupted in screams and fits of laughter. Not even Scipio could hold back his laughter.
Apparently, Ron had memorized the whole dance sequence to Risky Business and performed the whole scene to Hogwarts without a flaw whatsoever. The girls screamed, the boys laughed and the professors gaped open-mouthed, except for Dumbledore, who was imitation the moves with Professor McGonagall attached to his side. When it was all over, the Great Hall erupted in cheers and clapping. Ron couldn't get away from all the dance offers and when Harry and Hermione finally made their way over to him, he was flushed.
"Your purple went away!" Harry said, pointing at Ron's skin.
"Along with your pants! Ron, what on earth were you thinking?" Hermione said, in a giggly fit.
"Well, I had to get your attention, Hermione." Ron said, pulling off his glasses.
"For what?" Hermione asked puzzled.
"For this."
Ron pulled Hermione by the arms and kissed her fully on the lips. Hermione, clearly startled had no choice, but to hold on to Ron for dear life, or that's what she wanted everyone to think, anyway. The two kissed for what must have seemed like an eternity before letting go for a breath.
"Oh my god, Ron! What was that for?" Hermione asked, trying to sound surprised and disgusted. It didn't work.
"I can't just kiss you?" Ron asked, raising his eyebrow at Hermione.
"Well . . . you can, but not when I'm not expecting it! I nearly swallowed my tongue!" Hermione said, trying to fix her dress.
"No, that was my tongue. So um . . . I guess what I'm trying to ask you is would you go out with me?"
"After that display of . . .(interrupted by yet another kiss by Ron) . . .sure, why not?"
Harry could only giggle. This was perfect, Ron and Hermione together at last . . .and not a bad prank on his side either. He'd planted the towel so he could suggest the costume idea. Boy was he a genius!
Author's note: Hope you liked it! Totally all my idea! The next few chapters won't be as funny with the exception of one . . .the plot gets down to all seriousness now. Had to have a happy moment in what will be a very sad story . . .but cheer up, it may not be that bad . . . .Unless I kill off your favorite character, that is . . .oh well . . .r/r please!