[a/n. Hahaha..chapter 11..filing for bankruptcy am I? Wouldn't be amusing if someone's last chapter was chapter 11? Alright I'll stop now. big delay, sorry. Once again, homework, life, and lack of creativity interfered. Hopefully haven't lost my touch though. R&R&R! ]
Disclaimer: I own nothing but d/B/p.
"Good one Malfoy, real smooth. Almost as smooth as your hair," muttered Harry.
Rather than blanching, which wouldn't have made much of a difference seeing as he was already quite pale, he turned the darkest color they had seen him, a soft pink. His stony eyes widened as they flickered from Brooke's wooden face to Ron's purple one to Hermione's shocked one to Neville's glazed over one to Ginny's angry one to Harry's ridiculing one...
He couldn't help but run.
^^^
"Malfoy really really needs to die now."
"Most definitely."
"In the most torturous way possible."
"Or the most painful."
"Same thing, Ron."
"You know I don't get big words, Hermione."
"So who wants to do it?"
"Why don't we all?"
"If we each give him an Unforgivable..."
"But what if they counteract each other and he dies quickly?"
"Plus there are three Unforgivables and four of us..."
"And what if we get caught?"
"Hermione, that left as an issue a long long time ago..."
The four of them walked huffily, angrily, broodingly, and strangely, thoughtfully toward the Gryffindor common room.
"Are you allowed in here?" Ron asked, turning toward Brooke.
"I really don't care for rules right now, just check if anyone's in there."
"There are people."
"Fine, then we'll go outside."
"Slight problem there, it's pouring."
"Then the Room of Requirement."
"Alright then."
They walked, in a brisk, almost business-like manner to the Room. Ron did the pacing, and the three walked in to a normal looking room. On the hard wooden shelves were hexes that did major pain but no major damage, and oddly, there were three loveseats and a couple of bean bags for seating. But instead of sitting, none of them took a seat. They looked around, awkwardly.
"It's like we're training for battle."
"Well, in essence, we are."
"True, but...it's too planned. We can't sit down and plan how to attack him, can we?" Harry took the honor of the first seat by plopping into the nearest bean bag.
"That's true."
"Takes the fun out of it, kind of."
Brooke sat down at a loveseat but turned down any sort of invitation by spreading her legs across the other side. Ron didn't notice, and instead took the nearest loveseat and nearly sunk into it like it was inviting quicksand.
"Well that what are we to do?!" Hermione's voice was sharp and high pitched.
"Er..."
"Hermione, do we have to do something now? I'm tired! I need to think! I need sleep!" said Ron.
"You need sleep?"
"Yes! I need to shut my eyes and shift dangerously toward unconsciousness!"
"I thought you didn't use big words."
"I don't. Brooke taught me that word today." He laughed at Brooke, who smiled back, remembering some privately held inside joke.
Hermione narrowed her eyes. "Ron, you were just insulted in front of practically the entire school!"
"I know, but that's happened before..."
"SO?"
"Hermione, every time Malfoy says something to me I end up running at him and then clobbering myself again. Maybe if I get some rest on it, I might actually succeed in finally doing him justice!"
"Since when has that been your theory?"
"I don't know, I've just kind of...been...well..."
"Looking back on things," finished Harry.
"Then you haven't realized that this is the worst of all the things he's ever said to you? Ron, he practically compared you to a servant, a house-elf, saying you should lick Brooke's shoes! He said things about your family, about your hair, about everything that means something to you and you just want to sit there and get some rest? Are you insane? You're just going to sit down and take his abuse?"
Harry, Brooke, and Ron all looked up in surprise. Hermione's entire face was blazing; had she had red hair, she would have been on fire.
"But-But-he's done it before. He didn't say anything new..." said Ron in a relatively timid voice.
"So what if he didn't say anything new! He meant so much more! He was clearly lording his wealth, his status, his intelligence, and his entire life over you! He was taking everything he had that you didn't and shoving into your face, Ginny's face, every Weasley face and Weasley supporter there was in the room!"
It was then that the three of them jumped up to face Hermione.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Brooke inquired.
"What's what? You didn't hear what he said?!" Hermione whirled onto Brooke, in a harsh tone.
"I heard exactly what he said; I'm just trying to see whether or not I heard exactly what you said!"
"I said exactly what he said!"
"No you didn't!" said Harry.
"Yes, I did!"
"You said something about Malfoy taking everything he has that Ron doesn't and lording it over him!"
"Well it's true-isn't it? Isn't that what he was doing?"
"So that is what you said..." said Ron, not sitting back down, but not looking angry either.
"What? I was telling the truth!"
"Hermione, if you were telling the truth, and all that Malfoy said was about intelligence, wealth, and popularity..." Harry gave Hermione a second, though he was sure someone like Hermione would take a lot less than that. Her eyes widened in realization...
"No! NO! I didn't mean that! I didn't mean, Ron, no, Ron! I didn't---it came out wrong-"
Ron didn't say anything. He sat there still, looking thoughtful yet utterly emotionless at the same time.
Hermione looked around helplessly.
The silence was welcomed and yet it hung so obviously, someone had to say something.
"So then, what did you mean, Hermione? Just curious..."questioned Brooke tentatively.
"Well, I, I kind of meant that Malfoy took everything he thought he had over Ron and was trying to bring him down-"
"What did he think that he had over Ron?" said Harry, also curious.
"I don't know, popularity?"
"Malfoy? Popular?"
"Alright then, intelligence."
"Hermione!" exclaimed Ron.
"No, I'm saying that's what he thinks he has-"
"Alright then, what else?"
"Wealth."
"That's true."
"But the intelligence thing-"
"Yeah, Hermione, what's that imposing?"
"Nothing, I suppose he doesn't mean academics, more strategy-"
"So Ron's not strategic? Or cunning?"
"No I didn't-"
"Hermione, he plays Quidditch! He lives Quidditch, how he could not be strategic?"
"No, listen, I-"
"Hermione, come on-"
"STOP IT!" she yelled. She closed her eyes and put her hands on her hands and said tiredly, "Stop ganging up on me!"
"Ganging up on you?" Brooke looked genuinely confused. "How are we..."
"All three of you! You're taking every word I said and twisting it around so I'm somehow insulting Ron! And then all of a sudden, I'm the enemy, I'm the one you all have to blame, it doesn't matter that Malfoy said all of this, its just that's it my fault that everything happened! All of a sudden I'm insulting Ron's intelligence and his status and his Quidditch abilities! And then you" she said, pointing to Ron "refuse to listen to even what I have to say about this subject, and you just sit there, pondering, and thinking that I want to insult you all the time, and you" she said, turning onto Brooke, "just encourage him by asking me all these questions and inquiring all the time what I meant about something and why I said something I did and you're probably feeding him and him," pointing in turn to Harry and Ron "that I'm the enemy here!"
Hermione was going off into a tangent...
"What? I-" Brooke replied.
"Don't say you don't know what I'm talking about! You know exactly what I'm talking about!" She spat in disgust. "You sit there being all pretty, eating your chocolates, telling them how I'm trying to ruin their lives, and being all smart, and getting top grades and talking with Ron all the time and being everything that I'm not and then you!" She finally turned on to Harry. He had been waiting for this.
"You..."
Her expression softened, but her eyes were still burning. Then, after a second or two, it hardened, and she opened her mouth harshly before-
"Wait, what?"
She turned to Ron, in amazement.
"AM I SPEAKING A DIFFERENT LANGUAGE?" Hermione plopped down, falling hard on the floor, because apparently she thought there was a bean bag beneath her. She put her head in her hands. Harry held his laughter, he was very frightened that if he laughed he would be in the hospital wing in a matchbox.
"No, what you said was just odd..."
"Odd how?"
"No, nothing, nevermind, I might have heard you wrong..."
Hermione, with her head still in her hands, did not seem to notice Brooke staring at her strangely. Ron, still playing the last few moments over in his head, spread out on the loveseat into what looked like a sleeping positing. Harry had sunk into the biggest bean bag chair in the room, The four of them sat there, one fuming, one close to sleeping, one imagining, and one thinking...
[A/N: The only part of the story I'm mentioning here is strictly my plot. The D.A., Room of Requirement, and Umbridge are all referenced, but as of now, not directly parts of the story. And I did borrow a line from CoS about the matchbox thing...I always thought that was funny. Anyway..was a hard chapter to write, so I hope you liked it...]
Disclaimer: I own nothing but d/B/p.
"Good one Malfoy, real smooth. Almost as smooth as your hair," muttered Harry.
Rather than blanching, which wouldn't have made much of a difference seeing as he was already quite pale, he turned the darkest color they had seen him, a soft pink. His stony eyes widened as they flickered from Brooke's wooden face to Ron's purple one to Hermione's shocked one to Neville's glazed over one to Ginny's angry one to Harry's ridiculing one...
He couldn't help but run.
^^^
"Malfoy really really needs to die now."
"Most definitely."
"In the most torturous way possible."
"Or the most painful."
"Same thing, Ron."
"You know I don't get big words, Hermione."
"So who wants to do it?"
"Why don't we all?"
"If we each give him an Unforgivable..."
"But what if they counteract each other and he dies quickly?"
"Plus there are three Unforgivables and four of us..."
"And what if we get caught?"
"Hermione, that left as an issue a long long time ago..."
The four of them walked huffily, angrily, broodingly, and strangely, thoughtfully toward the Gryffindor common room.
"Are you allowed in here?" Ron asked, turning toward Brooke.
"I really don't care for rules right now, just check if anyone's in there."
"There are people."
"Fine, then we'll go outside."
"Slight problem there, it's pouring."
"Then the Room of Requirement."
"Alright then."
They walked, in a brisk, almost business-like manner to the Room. Ron did the pacing, and the three walked in to a normal looking room. On the hard wooden shelves were hexes that did major pain but no major damage, and oddly, there were three loveseats and a couple of bean bags for seating. But instead of sitting, none of them took a seat. They looked around, awkwardly.
"It's like we're training for battle."
"Well, in essence, we are."
"True, but...it's too planned. We can't sit down and plan how to attack him, can we?" Harry took the honor of the first seat by plopping into the nearest bean bag.
"That's true."
"Takes the fun out of it, kind of."
Brooke sat down at a loveseat but turned down any sort of invitation by spreading her legs across the other side. Ron didn't notice, and instead took the nearest loveseat and nearly sunk into it like it was inviting quicksand.
"Well that what are we to do?!" Hermione's voice was sharp and high pitched.
"Er..."
"Hermione, do we have to do something now? I'm tired! I need to think! I need sleep!" said Ron.
"You need sleep?"
"Yes! I need to shut my eyes and shift dangerously toward unconsciousness!"
"I thought you didn't use big words."
"I don't. Brooke taught me that word today." He laughed at Brooke, who smiled back, remembering some privately held inside joke.
Hermione narrowed her eyes. "Ron, you were just insulted in front of practically the entire school!"
"I know, but that's happened before..."
"SO?"
"Hermione, every time Malfoy says something to me I end up running at him and then clobbering myself again. Maybe if I get some rest on it, I might actually succeed in finally doing him justice!"
"Since when has that been your theory?"
"I don't know, I've just kind of...been...well..."
"Looking back on things," finished Harry.
"Then you haven't realized that this is the worst of all the things he's ever said to you? Ron, he practically compared you to a servant, a house-elf, saying you should lick Brooke's shoes! He said things about your family, about your hair, about everything that means something to you and you just want to sit there and get some rest? Are you insane? You're just going to sit down and take his abuse?"
Harry, Brooke, and Ron all looked up in surprise. Hermione's entire face was blazing; had she had red hair, she would have been on fire.
"But-But-he's done it before. He didn't say anything new..." said Ron in a relatively timid voice.
"So what if he didn't say anything new! He meant so much more! He was clearly lording his wealth, his status, his intelligence, and his entire life over you! He was taking everything he had that you didn't and shoving into your face, Ginny's face, every Weasley face and Weasley supporter there was in the room!"
It was then that the three of them jumped up to face Hermione.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Brooke inquired.
"What's what? You didn't hear what he said?!" Hermione whirled onto Brooke, in a harsh tone.
"I heard exactly what he said; I'm just trying to see whether or not I heard exactly what you said!"
"I said exactly what he said!"
"No you didn't!" said Harry.
"Yes, I did!"
"You said something about Malfoy taking everything he has that Ron doesn't and lording it over him!"
"Well it's true-isn't it? Isn't that what he was doing?"
"So that is what you said..." said Ron, not sitting back down, but not looking angry either.
"What? I was telling the truth!"
"Hermione, if you were telling the truth, and all that Malfoy said was about intelligence, wealth, and popularity..." Harry gave Hermione a second, though he was sure someone like Hermione would take a lot less than that. Her eyes widened in realization...
"No! NO! I didn't mean that! I didn't mean, Ron, no, Ron! I didn't---it came out wrong-"
Ron didn't say anything. He sat there still, looking thoughtful yet utterly emotionless at the same time.
Hermione looked around helplessly.
The silence was welcomed and yet it hung so obviously, someone had to say something.
"So then, what did you mean, Hermione? Just curious..."questioned Brooke tentatively.
"Well, I, I kind of meant that Malfoy took everything he thought he had over Ron and was trying to bring him down-"
"What did he think that he had over Ron?" said Harry, also curious.
"I don't know, popularity?"
"Malfoy? Popular?"
"Alright then, intelligence."
"Hermione!" exclaimed Ron.
"No, I'm saying that's what he thinks he has-"
"Alright then, what else?"
"Wealth."
"That's true."
"But the intelligence thing-"
"Yeah, Hermione, what's that imposing?"
"Nothing, I suppose he doesn't mean academics, more strategy-"
"So Ron's not strategic? Or cunning?"
"No I didn't-"
"Hermione, he plays Quidditch! He lives Quidditch, how he could not be strategic?"
"No, listen, I-"
"Hermione, come on-"
"STOP IT!" she yelled. She closed her eyes and put her hands on her hands and said tiredly, "Stop ganging up on me!"
"Ganging up on you?" Brooke looked genuinely confused. "How are we..."
"All three of you! You're taking every word I said and twisting it around so I'm somehow insulting Ron! And then all of a sudden, I'm the enemy, I'm the one you all have to blame, it doesn't matter that Malfoy said all of this, its just that's it my fault that everything happened! All of a sudden I'm insulting Ron's intelligence and his status and his Quidditch abilities! And then you" she said, pointing to Ron "refuse to listen to even what I have to say about this subject, and you just sit there, pondering, and thinking that I want to insult you all the time, and you" she said, turning onto Brooke, "just encourage him by asking me all these questions and inquiring all the time what I meant about something and why I said something I did and you're probably feeding him and him," pointing in turn to Harry and Ron "that I'm the enemy here!"
Hermione was going off into a tangent...
"What? I-" Brooke replied.
"Don't say you don't know what I'm talking about! You know exactly what I'm talking about!" She spat in disgust. "You sit there being all pretty, eating your chocolates, telling them how I'm trying to ruin their lives, and being all smart, and getting top grades and talking with Ron all the time and being everything that I'm not and then you!" She finally turned on to Harry. He had been waiting for this.
"You..."
Her expression softened, but her eyes were still burning. Then, after a second or two, it hardened, and she opened her mouth harshly before-
"Wait, what?"
She turned to Ron, in amazement.
"AM I SPEAKING A DIFFERENT LANGUAGE?" Hermione plopped down, falling hard on the floor, because apparently she thought there was a bean bag beneath her. She put her head in her hands. Harry held his laughter, he was very frightened that if he laughed he would be in the hospital wing in a matchbox.
"No, what you said was just odd..."
"Odd how?"
"No, nothing, nevermind, I might have heard you wrong..."
Hermione, with her head still in her hands, did not seem to notice Brooke staring at her strangely. Ron, still playing the last few moments over in his head, spread out on the loveseat into what looked like a sleeping positing. Harry had sunk into the biggest bean bag chair in the room, The four of them sat there, one fuming, one close to sleeping, one imagining, and one thinking...
[A/N: The only part of the story I'm mentioning here is strictly my plot. The D.A., Room of Requirement, and Umbridge are all referenced, but as of now, not directly parts of the story. And I did borrow a line from CoS about the matchbox thing...I always thought that was funny. Anyway..was a hard chapter to write, so I hope you liked it...]