A/N: I'm not really sure what qualifies as a short chapter and what
is considered a long chapter anymore! lol. Thanks to all who reviewed last.
I'm working really hard on this, hoping to keep up the pace so there isn't
a long gap between any chapters getting posted. Hope you enjoy this one! It
was fun to write! :) A little Hermione/Ron budding?..?... hmnn..
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A few days later Ron and Harry sat in the corner of the common room whispering to each other rapidly. Hermione shot a quizical look in Ginny's direction, but she only shrugged and returned to her transfiguration homework.
"Spare no one!" Harry whispered and laughed. Ron shook his head with a grin plastered onto his face.
"Not even the Gryffndors? I mean, c'mon Harry! You know Hermione would take points away from her own house! And don't even try to say she won't know it was us! She's had her eye on us for the past couple of days, I've noticed," Ron said trying to advise Harry otherwise. Harry shook his head and laughed.
"I'm sure you have Ron," Harry said as Ron blushed,"but if we are gonna pull this tomorrow, we are gonna have to get everyone. Even Hermione."
"Alright mate. Alright. So everything is on schedule then?" Ron asked. Harry nodded and the two returned to their astronomy work. Ginny raised and eyebrow and slid over onto the couch beside Hermione.
"They're planning something!" Ginny whispered in true Weasley fashion. They were all quite good at keeping their voices low and passing on secrets.
"You don't think I know that? They've been whispering to each other all day! They look exactly like Fred and George used to when they were about to set off dung bombs or something." Hermione said, obviously annoyed. Ginny frowned and nodded.
"I know! It's so unfair! You'd think if Ron was gonna carry on with Fred and George's pranks that he'd let me help! I'm a Weasley too! It's in my blood!" Ginny said in a huff and folded her arms across her chest. Hermione stared at her like she was mad, before continuing on where she left off on her homework.
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"Ok, the timer is set for an hour. Lets get out of here before someone catches us!" Harry mumbled to Ron. Ron stopped casting temporary invisibility spells on crates in the Great Hall and rushed back to Harry's side.
"Alright then. You think we should skip breakfast this morning?" Ron asked and chuckled. Harry laughed and shook his head 'no'.
"We should get back to the common room. Who knows, Professor Sorgs (Snape's clone) might be able to see through invisibility cloaks!" Harry said as his heart fluttered with nerves. The plan was in action. He headed up to the common room with Ron and waited silently for the right time to head for breakfast. Hermione wandered down the stairs a half hour later.
"Good to see you're up. Ready for breakfast?" she asked. Ron's stomach grumbled as if on cue. The three smirked at each other and headed down the stairs to the Great Hall together.
Ginny, Harry, Ron, Hermione, Dean, Seamus, and Neville sat together talking about quidditch and Professor Sorgs and any other new information they could pass around. Things were going well until Ron spoke up with something that had been on his mind for a few days.
"Ginny, you and Dean don't seem to be too close for dating!" he pointed out, quite loudly. Dean choked on his orange juice and Ginny threw her face into her hands. Luckily, no one could go any further with this topic, as thousands of pieces of confetti were sent flying into the air from invisible sources.
Laughs and screams were heard at each table, with mixed reactions from each person. Hermione shrugged it off and kept eating. Confetti didn't seem like such a big deal, until...
"Your hair is blue Harry!" Seamus shouted wide-eyed. Harry played along.
"No way! Oh my god! Yours is pink! And sorta orange! And maybe a little red in there too!" he yelled and laughed. This was a small shock compared to what happened next. Neville opened his mouth to comment on the state of Ginny's hair (now bright purple with yellow spots), but found that no words could come out. Instead, thousands of butterflies flew out, each with brightly colored wings. This happened to quite a few other people as Ron turned to Harry and mumbled something about feeling bad for those who had chosen blueberry muffins.
"What the bloody hell is going on!?" Malfoy screamed as he was picked up off the floor and into the air.
"Ah yes, our special treat for him." Harry said winking at Ron and fingering something in his pocket.
"Dobby delivered it special." Ron said and laughed. Hermione stared wide- eyed as Malfoy was hung by his robes onto a hook on the wall. Harry tried to hide his wand as best he could and muttered a few words under his breath. Soon everyone was watching Draco's robes display two messages off and on, switching from one to the other...each time with a different neon glow.
' Visit Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes '
' In memoriam to Padfoot & Prongs '
Hermione quickly put her attention back on Harry and Ron, now knowing exactly what they had been planning late at night in the common room. Ron felt his face grow redder and redder as Hermione stared. He knew what was coming, but surprisingly...it didn't...
"I think I like my hair this way." she said and smiled. Harry and Ron reacted with laughs and smiles gallore. However, Cho did not find anything funny about the state of her hair at the Ravenclaw table. She shot Harry a dirty look as she noticed he was laughing about the state of affairs and stormed out of the Great Hall, friends in tow. Ginny rolled her eyes and gave Harry a thumbs up.
The party soon ended though as Professor Snape got Malfoy down from where he was hanging and Professor Flitwick quickly said a spell to clean up the scattered confetti on the floor. All eyes rested on Professor Dumbledore who stood up at his place at the table. He said nothing, but smiled and let out a small laugh.
"Let us hope that this is the last prank of this kind we see in Hogwarts for the year." he announced and gave Harry a knowing glance. Harry accepted that glance, in fact he craved it. He wanted Dubledore to know it was him. For some reason, he wanted Dumbledore to know what he was thinking. He nodded at the Professor before standing up and following his talking and laughing friends out the door.
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Talk continued on about the chaotic morning throughout the day, but Ginny had no time to talk with any of her friends about it. Her being in 5th year, she did not share any classes with the famous trio. Eventually the common room emptied and the hour grew late. Ginny scurried down the stairs to talk to Harry about the morning , but stopped before she entered the common room. Hermione and Harry were sharing a private conversation, Ron already headed to bed.
"Why did you do it Harry?" Hermione asked him, her hair still multi-colored and glowing.
"It was something Sirius said to me. He said I wasn't anything like my father. I know that I shouldn't have taken it so personally, but I just couldn't get it out of my head. I wanted to do something for them. Sirius and my dad I mean. It had to be something good, and I knew this is what they would have enjoyed seeing when they were in school." Harry answered and rumpled his hair with his hand. Hermione laughed and hugged him close.
"Sirius was wrong. You're like your father. Your father died to protect you and your mom. He must have been loving and caring and I'm sure intelligent. You're all those things Harry." Hermione comforted him. Harry smiled, but Ginny did not. She let a tear fall down her cheek as she watched in silence.
'Someone else Hermione likes' she thought to herself. 'I'll never be that close to him...ever. God I wish he would hug me like that, just once.' She disappeared up the stairs and back to her dorm as Hermione sighed and let go.
"I saw Cho give you that look this morning. You ok?" Hermione asked. Harry sighed and nodded.
"I don't think I'll ever like Cho the way I did before. Things are just...different." he said and smiled weakly.
"I know what you mean..about not seeing people the same way..and things being different." Hermione said and began to stare off into space. Harry chuckled to himself and wished her a goodnight and sweet dreams. Hermione ran quickly up the stairs to the 5th year girls' dormitories.
"Ginny..." she whispered into the dark. She was met by a few muffled groans and what sounded like sniffing. Ginny got up off her bed and met Hermione at the doorway, her eyes stained red with tears.
"Ginny! Are you ok?" she asked concerened. Ginny smiled and nodded.
"Sorry Hermione. I just had a long day," she said and sniffled again. Hermione didn't push any more, but moved on to what she wanted to talk about.
"You are going to think I'm crazy Ginny, but I need to talk to you about something. I was talking with Harry just now, and I just saw something that kind of... shocked me back into reality. I realized that people are only around for so long, and we don't know what could happen. I mean...Cedric, Sirius...it's just..." Hermione rambled off quickly. Ginny hugged Hermione close and patted her back.
"It's ok Hermione. What's wrong? Are you worried about Harry?" she asked, thinking Hermione was madly in love with the messy-haired boy.
"Well.yeah, but that's not exactly what I wanted to tell you. It's..something...else." Hermione said. Ginny raised her eyebrows in curiousity and motioned for Hermione to continue. "It's well.. remember when you asked me if there was somebody else, aside from Viktor who i don't really like..you know what I mean?"
"Yeah. I remember" Ginny said simply and braced herself for what Hermione was about to say.
"Well, there is...and I want to tell him, but I'm too scared. I'm afraid of what he'll say. He might think I've gone crazy or something." Hermione said, wrecked with nerves.
"Oh Hermione! Harry would never think you were crazy!" Ginny said. Hermione stared at her, lost. She laughed harder and harder until Ginny began to get worried. Hermione had gone crazy...
"It's not Harry, silly! I'd much rather see him with you!" Hermione said raising her voice a bit. Ginny blushed at this, but definately not without feeling some relief. She might have a slight chance after all. Hermione didn't like Harry! But wait..then who?
"That's great and all Hermione, but then who do you want to spill your heart out to?" Ginny asked. Hermione took a deep breath and cringed as she spoke..
"Your brother" she said simply. Ginny's eyes widened.
"Which one!? Not Ron!" she screamed. Hermione quieted her and nodded. Ginny clapped with approval and smiled at her brown-eyed friend.
"Well then, make sure to tell him! And when you do, make sure I'm within ear-shot! I can't miss something like this!" she said and grinned. Hermione shook her head with embarassment.
"Forget I said anything!" Hermione mumbled and ran up to her dormitory. Ginny shook her head sadly and watched her dash away. It looked as though she'd have to do a little work behind the scenes in order to match her brother up with his long-time crush, whom she had just found out liked him back!
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A few days later Ron and Harry sat in the corner of the common room whispering to each other rapidly. Hermione shot a quizical look in Ginny's direction, but she only shrugged and returned to her transfiguration homework.
"Spare no one!" Harry whispered and laughed. Ron shook his head with a grin plastered onto his face.
"Not even the Gryffndors? I mean, c'mon Harry! You know Hermione would take points away from her own house! And don't even try to say she won't know it was us! She's had her eye on us for the past couple of days, I've noticed," Ron said trying to advise Harry otherwise. Harry shook his head and laughed.
"I'm sure you have Ron," Harry said as Ron blushed,"but if we are gonna pull this tomorrow, we are gonna have to get everyone. Even Hermione."
"Alright mate. Alright. So everything is on schedule then?" Ron asked. Harry nodded and the two returned to their astronomy work. Ginny raised and eyebrow and slid over onto the couch beside Hermione.
"They're planning something!" Ginny whispered in true Weasley fashion. They were all quite good at keeping their voices low and passing on secrets.
"You don't think I know that? They've been whispering to each other all day! They look exactly like Fred and George used to when they were about to set off dung bombs or something." Hermione said, obviously annoyed. Ginny frowned and nodded.
"I know! It's so unfair! You'd think if Ron was gonna carry on with Fred and George's pranks that he'd let me help! I'm a Weasley too! It's in my blood!" Ginny said in a huff and folded her arms across her chest. Hermione stared at her like she was mad, before continuing on where she left off on her homework.
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"Ok, the timer is set for an hour. Lets get out of here before someone catches us!" Harry mumbled to Ron. Ron stopped casting temporary invisibility spells on crates in the Great Hall and rushed back to Harry's side.
"Alright then. You think we should skip breakfast this morning?" Ron asked and chuckled. Harry laughed and shook his head 'no'.
"We should get back to the common room. Who knows, Professor Sorgs (Snape's clone) might be able to see through invisibility cloaks!" Harry said as his heart fluttered with nerves. The plan was in action. He headed up to the common room with Ron and waited silently for the right time to head for breakfast. Hermione wandered down the stairs a half hour later.
"Good to see you're up. Ready for breakfast?" she asked. Ron's stomach grumbled as if on cue. The three smirked at each other and headed down the stairs to the Great Hall together.
Ginny, Harry, Ron, Hermione, Dean, Seamus, and Neville sat together talking about quidditch and Professor Sorgs and any other new information they could pass around. Things were going well until Ron spoke up with something that had been on his mind for a few days.
"Ginny, you and Dean don't seem to be too close for dating!" he pointed out, quite loudly. Dean choked on his orange juice and Ginny threw her face into her hands. Luckily, no one could go any further with this topic, as thousands of pieces of confetti were sent flying into the air from invisible sources.
Laughs and screams were heard at each table, with mixed reactions from each person. Hermione shrugged it off and kept eating. Confetti didn't seem like such a big deal, until...
"Your hair is blue Harry!" Seamus shouted wide-eyed. Harry played along.
"No way! Oh my god! Yours is pink! And sorta orange! And maybe a little red in there too!" he yelled and laughed. This was a small shock compared to what happened next. Neville opened his mouth to comment on the state of Ginny's hair (now bright purple with yellow spots), but found that no words could come out. Instead, thousands of butterflies flew out, each with brightly colored wings. This happened to quite a few other people as Ron turned to Harry and mumbled something about feeling bad for those who had chosen blueberry muffins.
"What the bloody hell is going on!?" Malfoy screamed as he was picked up off the floor and into the air.
"Ah yes, our special treat for him." Harry said winking at Ron and fingering something in his pocket.
"Dobby delivered it special." Ron said and laughed. Hermione stared wide- eyed as Malfoy was hung by his robes onto a hook on the wall. Harry tried to hide his wand as best he could and muttered a few words under his breath. Soon everyone was watching Draco's robes display two messages off and on, switching from one to the other...each time with a different neon glow.
' Visit Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes '
' In memoriam to Padfoot & Prongs '
Hermione quickly put her attention back on Harry and Ron, now knowing exactly what they had been planning late at night in the common room. Ron felt his face grow redder and redder as Hermione stared. He knew what was coming, but surprisingly...it didn't...
"I think I like my hair this way." she said and smiled. Harry and Ron reacted with laughs and smiles gallore. However, Cho did not find anything funny about the state of her hair at the Ravenclaw table. She shot Harry a dirty look as she noticed he was laughing about the state of affairs and stormed out of the Great Hall, friends in tow. Ginny rolled her eyes and gave Harry a thumbs up.
The party soon ended though as Professor Snape got Malfoy down from where he was hanging and Professor Flitwick quickly said a spell to clean up the scattered confetti on the floor. All eyes rested on Professor Dumbledore who stood up at his place at the table. He said nothing, but smiled and let out a small laugh.
"Let us hope that this is the last prank of this kind we see in Hogwarts for the year." he announced and gave Harry a knowing glance. Harry accepted that glance, in fact he craved it. He wanted Dubledore to know it was him. For some reason, he wanted Dumbledore to know what he was thinking. He nodded at the Professor before standing up and following his talking and laughing friends out the door.
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Talk continued on about the chaotic morning throughout the day, but Ginny had no time to talk with any of her friends about it. Her being in 5th year, she did not share any classes with the famous trio. Eventually the common room emptied and the hour grew late. Ginny scurried down the stairs to talk to Harry about the morning , but stopped before she entered the common room. Hermione and Harry were sharing a private conversation, Ron already headed to bed.
"Why did you do it Harry?" Hermione asked him, her hair still multi-colored and glowing.
"It was something Sirius said to me. He said I wasn't anything like my father. I know that I shouldn't have taken it so personally, but I just couldn't get it out of my head. I wanted to do something for them. Sirius and my dad I mean. It had to be something good, and I knew this is what they would have enjoyed seeing when they were in school." Harry answered and rumpled his hair with his hand. Hermione laughed and hugged him close.
"Sirius was wrong. You're like your father. Your father died to protect you and your mom. He must have been loving and caring and I'm sure intelligent. You're all those things Harry." Hermione comforted him. Harry smiled, but Ginny did not. She let a tear fall down her cheek as she watched in silence.
'Someone else Hermione likes' she thought to herself. 'I'll never be that close to him...ever. God I wish he would hug me like that, just once.' She disappeared up the stairs and back to her dorm as Hermione sighed and let go.
"I saw Cho give you that look this morning. You ok?" Hermione asked. Harry sighed and nodded.
"I don't think I'll ever like Cho the way I did before. Things are just...different." he said and smiled weakly.
"I know what you mean..about not seeing people the same way..and things being different." Hermione said and began to stare off into space. Harry chuckled to himself and wished her a goodnight and sweet dreams. Hermione ran quickly up the stairs to the 5th year girls' dormitories.
"Ginny..." she whispered into the dark. She was met by a few muffled groans and what sounded like sniffing. Ginny got up off her bed and met Hermione at the doorway, her eyes stained red with tears.
"Ginny! Are you ok?" she asked concerened. Ginny smiled and nodded.
"Sorry Hermione. I just had a long day," she said and sniffled again. Hermione didn't push any more, but moved on to what she wanted to talk about.
"You are going to think I'm crazy Ginny, but I need to talk to you about something. I was talking with Harry just now, and I just saw something that kind of... shocked me back into reality. I realized that people are only around for so long, and we don't know what could happen. I mean...Cedric, Sirius...it's just..." Hermione rambled off quickly. Ginny hugged Hermione close and patted her back.
"It's ok Hermione. What's wrong? Are you worried about Harry?" she asked, thinking Hermione was madly in love with the messy-haired boy.
"Well.yeah, but that's not exactly what I wanted to tell you. It's..something...else." Hermione said. Ginny raised her eyebrows in curiousity and motioned for Hermione to continue. "It's well.. remember when you asked me if there was somebody else, aside from Viktor who i don't really like..you know what I mean?"
"Yeah. I remember" Ginny said simply and braced herself for what Hermione was about to say.
"Well, there is...and I want to tell him, but I'm too scared. I'm afraid of what he'll say. He might think I've gone crazy or something." Hermione said, wrecked with nerves.
"Oh Hermione! Harry would never think you were crazy!" Ginny said. Hermione stared at her, lost. She laughed harder and harder until Ginny began to get worried. Hermione had gone crazy...
"It's not Harry, silly! I'd much rather see him with you!" Hermione said raising her voice a bit. Ginny blushed at this, but definately not without feeling some relief. She might have a slight chance after all. Hermione didn't like Harry! But wait..then who?
"That's great and all Hermione, but then who do you want to spill your heart out to?" Ginny asked. Hermione took a deep breath and cringed as she spoke..
"Your brother" she said simply. Ginny's eyes widened.
"Which one!? Not Ron!" she screamed. Hermione quieted her and nodded. Ginny clapped with approval and smiled at her brown-eyed friend.
"Well then, make sure to tell him! And when you do, make sure I'm within ear-shot! I can't miss something like this!" she said and grinned. Hermione shook her head with embarassment.
"Forget I said anything!" Hermione mumbled and ran up to her dormitory. Ginny shook her head sadly and watched her dash away. It looked as though she'd have to do a little work behind the scenes in order to match her brother up with his long-time crush, whom she had just found out liked him back!
