Chapter Six

"Is there any point telling you to stop walking like that?" Draco leered at Harry as he walked circles around the office.

"No!" he barked, whipping around so that he bashed into the desk, which moved slightly so that it knocked over a waste-paper basket, which bashed into an empty cardboard box, which knocked over a pile of paperback books on top of the chair next to it, which shuddered so that the several ink bottles on it fell off it and out the window.

"Thank you." Draco said, rolling his eyes. "That was very smooth…"

Rushing to make sure no one had gotten drenched in ink and broken glass, Harry leapt over another pile of boxes and promptly knocked them over.

"That was just klutzy. Even for you." Draco grinned as Harry swore under his breath at the pain in his knee. "Are you going to tell me why, or no?"

"Look, " Harry snarled, banging his head on the window frame as he ducked out of it. "You've MET your parents before, okay? To meet them for the first time in a scenario where you are in complete and utter control is not something that goes across my head as 'normal'."

He slipped away from the window, being careful not to trip on anything else.

"I'm going to clean up the glass." he snapped, and stalked out, muttering "Complete and utter control. Yeah. Complete control."

Malfoy watched him go.

"Seeing as they're making you hurt something every time you turn around, I'd say you're not as in control as you think you are Potter." he glowered out the door for a minute, and then returned to the papers he had been grading.

*

Lily, who had been trying to sort out her rather complicated thoughts, walked across the grounds in the late afternoon sunlight.

Uurgh…she thought, as the thought of her teacher popped up in her head, right with a little mental caption, saying 'Cute'.

Oh, my GOD, how embarrassing…she thought to herself as she hurried through the grounds. If she waited a minute longer, she could be the one of the first in the great hall, and find a spot alone with enough private space for her and her friends to talk.

As she hurried under an open window, there was an almighty crash from above, and six bottles of ink fell from the window, narrowly missing her head. They smashed and sprayed her feet and knees with ink.

"I will KILL the sick little scumbag who thought that was funny!!!" she screamed at no one in particular, and ran up through the entrance hall to the fat lady, dripping ink.

After changing quickly and rushing down to the great hall she sat down with Marylin, Claire and the others.

"Where WERE you?" Marylin snarled. "It was your turn to save us all our spot! I mean, it's not the end of the world or anything, but I do prefer to sit where we don't have to chew stuff in front of people."

Everyone stared..

"Sit where you don't have to CHEW in front of people?" Clare asked, sceptically.

"What are WE, trolls?"

"Okay, so my big secret's out." snarled Marylin. "I don't know why, but I've never liked eating in front of people. Don't ask." she shot back, as the others giggled.

"Well, I know how you feel." said Clare. " Even if your fear is a little…scary…I…uh…well, I've always been scared of open closets at night. I don't know why."

Everyone giggled.

"Seeing as everyone's spilling the beans on themselves, " said a girl named Tara, "I suppose I have to say something…uh…okay! I used to have this HUGE crush on this guy named, uh, Aaron, I think, and my sister found out in my diary and told him, and he made this big show of saying he liked someone else, in front of me and my friends…grrr…that was when I found out what a useless jerk he was."

"I'll say…what a creep!" Marylin was exasperated. "Well, what about you, Lily? You HAVE to tell your most embarrassing secret…we all did."

Lily sat in a heart stopping silence for a minute, and then stammered around, trying to make up a lie.

"Uh…um, well…uh…I, uh…I slept with a teddy bear until I was five!"

The others stared.

"Yeah, and so did the rest of the world." said Marylin. "Anything else?"

Lily could feel her cheeks burning, and she knew even if she managed to make up an acceptable story, they'd never believe it. Yes, she was in a bit of a tight spot, but she was never going to tell about her crush on Prof. Harry. Never. Not even if torture was involved.

"Um…I have to go to the bathroom." she said instead.

"Oooh, big secret, Lil." Marylin grinned.

":No, I mean really do!!!"

"Oh, okay then!"

Thankful they had at least bought THAT excuse, she got up and hurried off to the nearest bathroom.

Oooh, boy. She thought, blushing furiously. That was WAY too close…and they still expect an embarrassing secret…

Trying her hardest to think of one, she caught a glance of herself in the mirror and noticed she had somehow gotten mashed potatoes all over her backside.

Well, that'll do…she thought as she hurriedly scrubbed them off. I'll just change the date is all…

Hurrying back to the great hall, praying she wouldn't run into Harry, she slipped back into the great hall and told her friends about the time three years ago when she'd supposedly smashed mashed potatoes all over her backside at her old muggle school.

The other girls bought it, and they soon went off to bed.

Dear diary, She wrote after the others had fallen asleep. I really don't know what's gotten into me. There's this new muggle studies teacher here, and he's an okay teacher, I guess, but just recently I've been thinking he's sorta cute…I dunno what's up with that, because he's a TEACHER, so not only is the mere thought embarrassing, but also entirely inappropriate. UURGH!!! I just do NOT feel right about this…it's just nasty. I really have to go now, because I have a test in history of magic tomorrow morning…see you tomorrow, as always,

Your friend,

Lily.

xxx ooo.

*

Harry was just falling asleep when he suddenly felt restless for some unexplained reason. He had no clue why, but as this sort of thing happened fairly frequently, he wasn't worried about it. He just opened a book to make himself sleepy again, trying to ignore the incessantly nagging feeling in the back of his mind.