~*Every Other Time*~
Chapter Twelve: Mad Season
Thalia: Yes, there is Warrington/Li action in this chapter. Oh, and Howlers. Fun and happy Howlers. And we wonder at Warrington's sheer audacity in the face of the demon that is an outraged!McGonagall. Nevertheless, very fun.
Dove: We spent so long building up sexual tension, and then we go and resolve it!!! Silly us. But at the very least, there is a spectacle. We couldn't let it end without a spectacle.
Disclaimer: If by the end of this chapter it is not COMPLETELY apparent who REALLY owns Cassius Warrington, I suggest you read the fic over again.
"I feel stupid, but it's something that comes and goes.
I've been changin'; think it's funny how now one knows.
We don't talk about the little things that we do without
When that whole mad season comes around.
So why you gotta stand there
Looking like the answer now?
It seems to me you'd come around.
I need you now;
Do you think you can cope?
You figured me out..."
-"Mad Season", Matchbox Twenty
Though several of them had consumed significant amounts of champagne last night at the collective hilarity that was the party, not all of the Gryffindors were worshipping the porcelain toilet gods on Christmas morning.
Thankfully, though, Ron was in the loo retching and moaning about evil Slytherins, spiked drinks and the unmerciful light ("WOULD SOMEONE PLEASE FOR THE LOVE OF MERLIN MAKE IT DARK!?") when Ginny curiously reached for a small box wrapped in rustling dark green paper and unwrapped the present. The small redhead's mouth dropped open a moment later, as emerald earrings winked up at her like two green starts against a backdrop of black velvet.
Hermione Granger, looking rather put-out as she trudged down the staircase in a fuzzy blue bathrobe and slippers, approached the younger girl. "Honestly," she huffed slightly, "if only he'd stop yelling for a minute, I have Hangover potion brewed and ready to go... Ginny, what's that?"
Ginny wordlessly held out the earrings, finer than any she'd ever seen, for the Prefect's inspection. Hermione stared as the jewels seemed to wink impertinently back up at her. "Ginny... is that from..."
Ginny nodded wordlessly, now holding out a small, engraved sheet of parchment. "Gryffindork colours do not become you."
Hermione, her brow furrowed and biting her lip, cast dark detection spells upon the earrings, the note, the wrapping paper and the box, but everything came out negative. Finally, she raised her eyes to look at Ginny again.
"Er... congratulations and good luck not getting trampled by half a dozen murder-minded brothers?"
"Thanks," Ginny said dryly, before a quiet gasp turned her attention. Neville Longbottom was sitting a short distance away holding what appeared to be a painting of a bucolic, sunlit garden in his hands. His face was rapidly turning the same shade as the deep red roses in the picture.
"What's the matter, Neville?" Hermione asked curiously. "Oh, how nice. Someone gave you art for Christmas. That's a lovely picture of a garden there."
Neville gave a little squeak, still staring at the picture. Garden? What garden? All he could see was a very cunningly developed wizarding photo of Pansy, giving him smouldering looks as she walked back and forth in dangerous high heels and a skirt so tiny that it could have passed for a bandage. And then he turned it over to see her writing scribbled on the back of the frame.
"An intensely personal experience for the obedient one. Regards."
So they couldn't see what he could see. Neville slowly turned the picture over again, and saw photographic Pansy shooting him a wink.
The temperature of the room just shot up about ten degrees.
***
Surprisingly or not, the Slytherins were up and about fairly early on Christmas morning, most of them.
Cassius Warrington left his personal Head Boy quarters quite early and entered the Slytherin Common Room, a rather triumphant expression on his face over last night's success. The expression changed slightly when he saw Montague and Susannah, the latter with her head resting in the former's lap, asleep on one of the long couches. Raising an eyebrow, Cassius walked over and shook his teammate awake, not quite gently.
Montague's eyes snapped open. "Nothing happened; we were waiting to see when Malfoy would return."
"I realize that nothing has happened," Cassius replied, glancing at his still-sleeping cousin, "from the fact that she's still in her dress robes. And of course also the fact that I do have enough faith in you to believe that you wouldn't do such a blatantly death-seeking thing as to shag my cousin some place where I could easily walk in upon it." He smirked in a genial manner at his teammate, "So, when did our besotted Seeker make his grand appearance?"
"Around three in the morning," Montague remarked, shifting slightly to stretch his arms. "Give or take fifteen minutes."
"Excellent," Cassius smirked. "Well, that's one problem solved, at least."
"And where were you last night?" Montague asked, smirking slightly.
"Cleaning up the mess everyone left in the library and gloating over the success of the venture, why do you ask?" Warrington replied casually.
"No reason whatsoever," Montague replied quickly, giving Susannah a gentle shake. "I suppose it's breakfast time."
"Indeed it is," Blaise Zabini, who seemed to have caught the last comment, remarked as he entered the common room from the direction of the boys' dormitories. "For those of us who aren't green in the face with a hangover, anyway. I don' think Draco will be leaving the loo for another two hours."
"How sad," Warrington sniggered. "I won't receive the requisite Howler from him 'til afternoon, then."
***
It was nearing dinnertime when Warrington, coming from the direction of the Slytherin dungeons, saw Su Li approaching from a different direction towards the Great Hall. Quickening his footsteps slightly, he walked towards her, a slight smirk playing at the corners of his lips at how she looked as though she hadn't just participated in a several-months-long evil plot.
"And how is young Mr. Entwhistle recovering from the serenade last night?" he asked her casually. "Not too green in the face, I hope."
Su gave a dismissive little shrug. "Kevin's all right. What about Malfoy?"
"Presumably working on his public acknowledgement of our gracious help," he answered with a smirk. "Which I shall look forward to, immensely."
She laughed lightly, unconsciously shifting the parcel in her arm a bit. All right, so it wasn't abnormal to...
He noticed it at the same moment, and raised his eyebrows at her. "Well well, Li, how kind of you. I don't know if I should be suspicious or flattered."
"Both," she replied quickly, holding out the package unceremoniously towards him. "I figured that you might need it."
Curiously, he took it from her hands, and pulled away the wrapping paper to see...
"Evil for Dummies."
She was looking up at him with twinkling eyes. "Well, you're no Ravenclaw, so..."
"Precisely," he smirked down at her, reaching out and patting her head. "I'm a Slytherin. Why learn evil from books when we're gifted naturally?" She rolled her eyes, and he chuckled lightly. "But thank you."
"Civility from you, Warrington? I'm shocked," she retorted.
"Excellent to hear," he reached into a pocket of his robes and held out a package, significantly smaller than hers had been. "Additional shock is on the way."
She cautiously took the box from him. It was unwrapped, plain black, and he watched her expectantly as she peeled the cover off. Slowly, she started to smile, then snicker. "You want me to wear something that is for all intents and purposes incriminating evidence?"
"It's just a cloak pin," he grinned, "I figure that you wouldn't wear it unless you were going outside, and Filch doesn't venture out much. Not to mention, what's so unusual about a blue cat?"
"The fact that there is one walking around the school, the colour of which you were responsible for," she replied. "And obviously regarding said criminal act, you're trying to pin it on me."
"I hope that pun was not intended," he remarked blandly, "and I believe it's dinnertime."
"You hungry?"
"Expecting a public acknowledgement from Malfoy," he reminded her. "So I'm off. Will you come?"
She nodded agreeably and pinned the blue cat on her robes before following him to the Great Hall.
***
Warrington had left her at the Ravenclaw table and continued on the way towards the Slytherin table in reasonably high spirits.
He had barely sat down next to Susannah before a bright red envelope fell onto his plate. Even as his cousin shook her head and edged away, the Head Boy gave an exaggerated nod of thanks to his Seeker, before tearing the envelope open with a relish.
The indignant and irate voice of Draco Malfoy, magnified several times in volume, roared out in the middle of the Great Hall as every pair of eyes turned to watch in fascination. "Cassius Warrington, I am going to KILL you!! How DARE you spike my drink with truth potion!? Do you WANT to make a fool of me in front of... of the GRYFFINDORKS!? And furthermore, if that wasn't enough to warrant instantaneous dispensation of death, YOU LET HER LAP DANCE YOU!!! HOW DARE YOU DO SUCH A THING!? HAVE YOU NO SENSE OF DECENCY!? MINE, DAMMIT, MINE!!!! GO EAT A MANTICORE!! Or better yet, go get EATEN by a MANTICORE!! How DARE you interfere with my personal life anyway? It's none of your BUSINESS..." the Howler trailed off for a moment, and Warrington poked at it expectantly, well aware of everyone's gaze fixed upon the Slytherin table in general and him in particular. Finally, just before the red envelope sputtered into ashes, a somewhat softer, "...as disgusting as it is for me to say this... thanks."
"I should take a bow, I really should," the Head Boy mused aloud, before turning to Draco with a smirk. "You forgot the 'you completely evil, demonic bastard, how dare you plot to lock me in a room with her that time' bit."
"I helped with that!" Su called from across the room. "And how come I don't get one? I'm hurt!"
"Malfoy," Warrington said dismissively, "go glare at Li and make her feel better, will you? That's a good boy..."
The silence continued. Due to the fact that this was Christmas dinner, the house tables were mostly empty, but the Head Table was full, and Professor McGonagall looked on the verge of an apoplectic fit. "Mister Warrington," she began, "And Mister Malfoy, just because you may have some entirely false assumptions as to your own import-"
Before she could continue to make her displeasure known, another Howler came fluttering down onto Warrington's plate, and then another red envelope landed on Su's. This one deigned to explode before she could reach for it, and Warrington's started to smoke a moment thereafter, so in the end, very little was comprehensible, other than the equally magnified furious voices of Ronald and Virginia Weasley. About the only words that were easy to understand were the ones shouted in a particular fury; therefore, the school was spared much more than: "MY INNOCENT LITTLE SISTER!", "VILE, CHEATING BASTARD!", "SICK, CONNIVING WITCH!" and a chorus at the end of, "…ALL YOUR FAULT!!! HOW DARE YOU!?!?!?!?!?!?" This was all followed by an "I'll thank you when I can trust myself not to murder you," in Ginny's voice before both envelopes exploded in a shower of sparks, leaving the room silent.
"Well, at least you didn't leave me out this time," Su said, clearly satisfied.
"Miss Li!"
"I'd like to point out, Professor McGonagall, that I did not send these Howlers, and therefore, should not be held accountable, no matter how appealing that seems just now," Su said with an angelic little smile.
Before Professor McGonagall could retort to this particularly galling bit of impertinence, Dumbledore stood up, smiling beatifically, and said, "It is Christmas, Minerva. Let the children have a little fun."
"Looks to me like they are having more than a little," someone at the staff table pointed out into their napkin. Nonetheless, McGonagall glared into her plate and said nothing as the first course was served.
***
Halfway through dinner, Pansy Parkinson got a marvelous idea. Neville could tell by the way her eyes suddenly lit up, and wasn't entirely sure whether to be excited or terrified. He opted for excited, seeing as he was already at the Slytherin table and no one had killed him yet; nothing could be much worse than this. "You look like you're planning something," he remarked to Pansy.
She rewarded him with a sugary smile. "Nothing but a little… entertainment for us all," she said warmly.
Neville thought privately that they had all been quite entertained enough, but did not voice this idea. "Entertainment of what sort? Or do I not want to know?"
Pansy's smile turned feline. "I think Miss Li is far too serious for her own good," she said, pulling out her wand. "There's an interesting little spell used to lower inhibitions…"
***
Kevin Entwhistle filled a goblet with pumpkin juice, stole a glance at Su, who was not paying attention and laughing at something with Padma, sprinkled a little powder from a packet hidden in his sleeve into the goblet, put on his friendliest smile, and passed it to Su. She thanked him and took the glass absently.
"Do I want to know?" Lisa asked him in a whisper.
He only grinned. "Probably not."
***
At the Gryffindor table, Ginny had an ancient-looking spellbook open under the table, and was apparently lost in thought. Her fork had gone to her plate and back to her mouth-empty-at least three times. "What are you doing?" Ron asked her curiously. "That Malfoy git is staring at you." He did not sound pleased.
"He's free to stare as he likes," Ginny said absently. "I'll be going over to the Slytherin table here in a few moments, but I thought I'd wait until after… I don't want to get my nice robes dirty."
"Wait until after what?" Hermione asked from Ron's other side. "Are you going to do something… entirely against the rules and bordering on illegal again?"
"No more than usual, I assure you," Ginny said with a suppressed laugh. Her eyes lit up. "Ah, here it is. Stop grumbling about my boyfriend for a minute, will you, Ronald? I doubt sincerely any of us want this to go wrong." She pulled out her wand under the table, aimed it at the Ravenclaw table, and began chanting under her breath.
***
Su had just finished reassuring Padma that nothing was wrong, nothing at all, when she felt something warm hit her in the back, a slightly dizzy feeling entering her body. Frowning slightly and looking around in the direction of the Slytherin table, where she was fairly sure it came from, she saw nothing out of the ordinary... that is to say, several were smirking at her, it could have been anyone... anything... and Warrington, damn the man, seemed oblivious as he was clearing the ashes from the Howlers off his plate.
"Are you all right?" Kevin Entwhistle's voice was all too innocent as he pushed her goblet into her hands. Perhaps had she not been trying to figure out what was going on, she might have noticed that highly indicative fact.
"Yes," she took a sip of the pumpkin juice, her eyes glazing over slightly as she swallowed, "I'm... perfectly fine."
Even as Kevin started to grin, Su felt another tingling sensation, this one hitting her straight in the chest. At the Gryffindor table, a very satisfied Ginny, the smirk on her face (evidently a present from a particular ferretly scum) making Ron twitch in his seat, put her wand back in her pocket.
Cassius Warrington was, in fact, just about to reach for a roll from a basket in front of him when he noticed Su, a wide-eyed, fixed expression on her face, stalking towards the Slytherin table... towards him, in fact. His hand halted on its way towards the roll as she reached the table, and he was just about to make a clever comment about deigning to grace their house with her malevolent presence when she abruptly pushed his plate and goblet onto the lap of a nearby Tracey Davis, and before said Slytherin girl could even shriek in outrage, seated herself on the table directly in front of him.
"Oy, what's this about, then?" he started to ask, noticing vaguely that his hands, still resting on the tabletop, were millimeters away from her waist. "As intriguing as the idea of cannibalism is, I'm not about to eat you... without chocolate sauce, in any case."
"You have a very depraved, twisted mind," Su murmured, and Warrington almost stared. The usually-angelic little voice was low, husky, almost sultry, but before he could make an answer to her declaration, she had slid forward, wrapped her arms around his neck, and pressed her lips firmly against his, her eyes falling shut as she kissed him, this time most certainly not in the dark.
And this time, perhaps he was prepared for it, because a moment later, his hands had curved around her waist, quite unceremoniously pulling her into his lap, and he angled his head slightly, lips parting hers as he kissed back, one hand rising from her back to cup the nape of her neck, pulling her closer as they continued to kiss.
Catcalls started sounding from each of the tables, but it was finally the outraged voice of a thoroughly scandalized Professor McGonagall that made them pull apart, Su opening her eyes a bit drowsily, her hands still resting on his shoulders.
"Detention, Miss Li," the horrorstruck Transfiguration professor was shouting, "and Mr. Warrington as well! This... what is the meaning of this horrendous display?!"
"Sexual tension being resolved," Pansy whispered throatily into a transfixed Neville's ear. "She should know that."
Warrington, however, despite having his arms quite full of soft, warm Ravenclaw demon, was giving the Deputy Headmistress a despicably innocent look. "Why am I to get detention, Professor? She attacked me. I am but an innocent victim."
"A victim," McGonagall started scathingly, "would have resisted such an attack. Or in the very least, come up for air!"
"Oh." Warrington thought for a moment, "Then do we get to serve detention together?"
"NO."
"Why not?" Only a Slytherin, and not even all Slytherins, would have the gall to ask such a thing.
"Because," McGonagall looked about to smoke at the ears, "it is my firm belief that a gentleman should court his lady some other time and place than in public at this school!"
At that, Warrington started to smirk, chuckling lightly. "We'll keep that in mind, ma'am, for the unlikely day that we actually become a gentleman and a lady, respectively."
"Eight o'clock, the main hall," McGonagall scowled darkly, looking quite put-out at the obvious lack of repentance from both the Head Boy and the Prefect.
Warrington snapped the professor a jaunty salute, before turning towards the girl still comfortably ensconced in his lap, one eyebrow raised.
For her part, Su was slowly turning a deeper and deeper shade of rose, and hating it. She would never have behaved that way of her own accord! Fun as it may have been at the time, and lightning-fast as her heart was beating now… Feeling Warrington's scrutiny, she felt she needed to say something. "I was hexed, you know," was what she came up with. "By several people, actually." He kept looking at her. "That's why I…" she trailed off. She felt more than a little self-conscious now that the spells had worn off. It took all she had to keep a smile on her face and her cheeks a suitably pale pink instead of the crimson they should have been. "I'm the color of a tomato, aren't I?"
His smarmy grin changed not a trifle, damn him, but he did reach a hand to ruffle her hair. "Looking for someone to blame?"
"Oh no," she responded promptly, though her cheeks were still hot. "I would have gotten around to it myself, by and by. Perhaps not in the Great Hall, however." However nice the results it had yielded might have been… "Now I have detention. I've a feeling I'm going to need to send some Howlers of my own… been a while since I've had an excuse to scream."
"Will you stop it with the veiledly sexual comments? And are you ever going to move?" Tracey Davis whined, finally out of her shock-induced trance and wiping futilely at her robes. "Some of us are trying to eat."
"Why don't you get the food off your robes before trying to put any more in your mouth?" Su said with a laugh. "And no, I'm not planning on moving until McGonagall pulls me off by the ear. Maybe not then."
He chuckled slightly, and moved her easily in his lap so that she was sitting with her back to his chest rather than facing him. "It's easier to eat this way," he told her. "Susannah, please pass us the rolls?"
"Your mum," Susannah started, making a concerted effort not to laugh at him as she passed over the basket, "is going to be horrified."
"No she's not," Warrington answered her complacently. "She's a Slytherin too."
"I meant to say," Susannah continued sweetly, smirking at Su for a moment before turning back to Cassius, "she won't know what to do with her grandchildren. They'll be terrors."
Su's eyes widened, but Cassius seemed unfazed. "At least they'll be interesting terrors. And you're scaring our visitor."
"I don't think Li is scared that easily," Susannah grinned.
"Never said anything about Li," Warrington handed Su a roll before taking one for himself, "but Longbottom over there is about to faint in Pansy's lap."
