CHAPTER FOUR

The Green Brigade and the Blue, I mean One-Eyed Monster.

A/N: There is a little rendez-vous later on in this chapter, you'll know who with when you get to it. For those who are of age and would like to view the unedited version, the entire chapter can be found at the yahoo group "Supergirl's Fortress of Creativity." Enjoy.

"Good evening everyone," Dumbledore smiled all around the hall. "I hope all of the old enough students enjoyed their first Hogsmeade visit of the year. For the first and second years, don't worry. Your time will come soon. For now, it is time to eat. I will beg, however, that you do not fret about the lack of candy and eat rather quickly. I promise the sweets will come after dinner, along with a little extra treat for all of us," his ancient blue eyes twinkling brightly.

With that said, and quite a few curious murmurs from the students and staff, the tables were suddenly filled with food. Everyone ate the food heartily and talked amongst themselves happily, trying to guess what might be Dumbledore's surprise. Once the feast ended, Dumbledore stood again, raised his arms and the dishes were all cleaned. On top of every now-cleaned golden plate, there sat a muggle newspaper "captain's hat." Excited, fearful and intrigued murmurs spread throughout the hall.

Dumbledore raised his hands again and the hall went silent. "During Halloween, in the muggle world, muggles have this tradition of dressing up in what they call 'costumes.' These costumes take the shapes of creatures -usually ones meant to be frightening. The creatures are also usually magical, though the muggles don't know that the forms are actually magical creatures. These costumes can be trolls, werewolves, vampires, faeries, even witches and wizards. Although most muggles seem to find humor in making witches as ugly as possible while I can honestly say I've never met an ugly witch," he paused and glanced as discreetly as possible at Professor McGonagall as he smiled shyly at her. He cleared his throat and continued. "Some other costumes can also be muggle-oriented. It is now time for the treat. I would like you all to please put your little paper hats on your heads and you will instantly be changed into a 'creature.' Once we are all dressed, the candy shall appear and may all feel free to wander about the hall talking and eating amongst yourselves. Oh, yes, I almost forgot." He gestured for everyone to pick up their hats, stand and step back as the house tables all lifted into the air and moved against the walls. He clapped his hands and from somewhere all around the hall, music began, mostly spooky noises.

He then placed his own hat on and promptly shrunk to the height of tiny Professor Flitwick, turned blue and while he still obtained a beard, it had become white and much shorter. His hat had also changed to a soft pointed red cap. The only other clothing he wore was a white nappy-looking cloth and white slightly pointed slippers.

A few of the muggle-born students tried desperately to stifle their laughs, but then cut loose once they saw Dumbledore, himself, (now "Papa Surf"), and a few of the other teachers smiling and laughing, as well. Including Professor McGonagall, who, chuckling, placed her hat on her head and instantly grew unnaturally long, soft, beautiful blonde hair that continued until it reached approximately 20 feet in length, and was suddenly dressed in a peasant's gown. She was "Repunzel."

The small group of friends seemed to be taking on some Jim Henson's Muppets qualities. Harry turned into "Kermit the Frog." Ginny turned into "Animal," jumped on the table and began eating large quantities of candy while she still managed to throw most of it at other people, as well. Ron, to very few sounds of surprise, turned into "Miss. Piggy." Neville turned into "Fozzy Bear," complete with a sack of tomatoes, a rubber chicken, and a banana cream pie, and instantly began telling Hermione a joke, which ended with, "wacca, wacca, wacca!" Hermione put her hat on and instantly dropped under the table in a cloud of sparkling gold dust. Suddenly, a sparkling ball of light shot out from under the table with a tail of dust trailing her. She stood on top of a golden goblet, her hands on her hips. She was about six inches tall and was wearing a little green dress and slippers, her hair was blonde and in a bun, and she had wings. She began to laugh, well, chime in any case, along with the others, at her tiny "Tinkerbelle" form.

Back with the teachers, little Professor Flitwick suddenly squeaked and grew to almost seven feet tall with bulging muscles. To say the least, he had turned into "He-Man." Professor Snape, very reluctantly, put on his hat and instantly grew green fur all over his body and was wearing nothing but a red coat lined with white cotton and a matching cap and slippers. He sat there glaring at everyone who so much as looked at him, "The Grinch." Dumbledore chuckled amiably at Snape. Hagrid had turned into something that had caused him so much joy. He turned green, grew a tail and a large snout, and all of his unruly mane and beard had disappeared. He snorted a puff of smoke from his big snout in spite of his name, "Puff" -the magic dragon! Madame Pomfrey had discarded her usual attire of cap and apron to don a sleek, black leather skin-tight suit and mask with matching whip for his costume as "Catwoman." Professor Sprout shrunk to about eight inches high, just a bit taller than Hermione and had become made of bark and twigs with two small brown eyes and long, sharp fingers. There was no mistaking that she had turned into a bowtruckle.

Over where the Slytherins stood, Draco Malfoy shocked everyone who saw his transformation. He was about four feet tall with long blonde hair pulled up into a little knot at the back of his head. He was wearing a very "space-age," bright blue dress with rainbow-colored sleeves and big blue shoes. To top it all off, however, was the fact that he was now female, not mention an also very animated "Rainbow Bright" with a little purple star on his cheek. His two cronies had turned into foot-tall balls of colorful fur with tiny faces and button noses, mitten-shaped hands and rainbow-colored striped legs. They had also suddenly developed the tell-tale high, squeaky voices of the little creatures known as sprites of "Rainbow Bright" and one was bright pink, while the other was bright purple. Pansy Parkinson, however, had become something so huge and grotesque, no one even dared to sit near her all evening. She had, quite simply, become a large pile of pizza, "Pizza -the Hut" from Spaceballs, the movie, to be exact.

Once everyone was finally completely transformed, people began dancing. Kermit and Miss. Piggy took to the dance floor as well as Animal who dragged a rather ruffled-looking Fozzy behind him, along with Papa Smurf and Repunzel, who wound her long hair around her arm to keep from tripping over it or getting tangled in anything.

Tink flew over to where Puff and the Grinch were at the head table, gold dust trailing behind her. She glanced at the Grinch but looked at Puff and smiled cheerfully. She gave a little tinkling of a giggle that made both 'men' look at her.

"I don't see what's so funny Miss. Granger," the Grinch snarled.

Her temper had renewed with his tone, but after catching Puff's encouraging wink it subsided and she smiled again before she responded. "We can make up the Green brigade," she chimed. She giggled again and Puff snorted as a burst of flame shot out of his nostrils again. "Not that you could actually understand that considering your heart is three sizes too small, or maybe it's just that your shoes are too tight," she continued. She motioned to the three of them, "After all, it's not east being green."

The words were barely out of her mouth when Kermit and Miss. piggy twirled by. They stopped and jovially approached the little group.

"Why, Tink, you're singing my song," Kermit said cheerfully.

"Oh, no, Kermit, but I think a rendition would be just lovely. If you'd care to oblige us..." she chimed.

"I'd love to, Tink. Care to join me fellow--er...."

"Brigadiers," Tink offered.

"Yes, fellow Brigadiers," Kermit finished. "What do you say?" he asked the small group.

"Oh yes, Kermy, and you're headliner can be...moi," Piggy said dreamily.

"Um, Piggy," Kermit began. "You're not green."

"So?" she asked, now slightly perturbed.

"Well, you--you can't be in the Brigade..." he said weakly, noticing Piggy's anger rising.

"What do you mean, of course I can. You love me. Don't you Kermy?" She paused, waiting for an answer. "Kermy?!!!"

"I...yes...it's just that...well...you see..." he stuttered.

"Hi-ya!" she screamed and backhanded him, sending him flying under the table.

He crawled back, and then caught his breath. "How about I sing to you, Piggy," he suggested desperately.

"Oh, Kermy, you'd sing just for...moi?" she asked as she batted her large eyes and looked at him through long lashes.

"Mm-hmm," he gulped.

"Oh, Kermy!" she squealed then crushed him to her in a big hug.

Once Piggy had released him could he speak again. "So, how about it guys?" he asked the small group again.

"I can only chime," Tink chimed. "That's not really singing."

"I can only mime," Puff mimed sadly then hung his head and sniffed loudly.

Tink flew over to him and patted his great snout gently causing him to sneeze, loud and huge, which sent Tink flying uncontrollably into a rather large bowl of popcorn balls. She climbed out and flew back over to the dragon and smiled reassuringly while he smiled apologetically.

Kermit turned to the Grinch. "What about you," he asked the tall green man of fur.

"I don't sing," he snarled.

"Oh, well, what about dancing, like back-up," he suggested to everyone.

"Great idea, Kermit!" Tink said happily.

Puff nodded enthusiastically, his great head moving up and down emphatically.

"Absolutely not--" began the Grinch, but was suddenly stopped by a short blue animated thing with a rather tall, long hair beauty on his arm.

"Oh, come now Grinch, it should be great fun," Papa Smurf offered. He'd obviously heard enough to know what was being planned.

"I think it's a lovely idea," Repunzel sang lightly.

"Perfect. It's settled then," he said in a voice that was quite light, but the look in his eyes told the tall, green man that the matter was definitely closed.

The Grinch grumbled to himself but stood with everyone else as Papa Smurf made the announcement. As the Great Hall quieted, the little group assembled themselves. Miss. Piggy stood at the front of the great audience staring dreamily at Kermit who smiled at her lovingly before the music started and he awaited his opening cue. The brigade lined up in back and began to sway when the music started.

It's not easy being green;

Having to spend each day the color of the leaves.

When I think it could be nicer being red, or yellow or gold--

or something much more colorful like that.

It's not easy being green.

It seems you blend in with so many other ordinary things.

And people tend to pass you over

'cause you're not standing out

like flashy sparkles in the water--

or stars in the sky.

The small group danced around the little opened area. Well, in their own way.

But green's the color of Spring.

And green can be cool and friendly-like.

And green can be big like an ocean,

or important like a

mountain, or tall

like a tree.

Puff thrashed his long tail around as he spun Tink around by one claw, which hit the Grinch and sent him flying into He-Man who helped him up cheerfully and gave him a small shove back in line.

When green is all there is to be

It could make you wonder why,

but why wonder why?

Wonder, I am green and it'll do fine,

it's beautiful!

And I think it's what I want to be.

When the song ended the hall was ringing with laughter as the Grinch immediately hurried back to his seat while Kermit was flattened by Piggy, and Tink stood on Puff's paw as they both smiled and waved modestly.

"It was all Kermit," Tink chimed through all of the applause.

Eventually the party came to an end at midnight when the hats' spells wore off and everyone changed back to normal. The Great Hall was emptying slowly as most didn't want the fun to end whereas others, some clearly disappointed in the evening and some simply tired from all of the excitement, especially the younger students, were heading off to their respective dormitories with incredible haste.

Ginny and Neville were one of the last to enter the currently empty common room. Neville mustered up a great amount of courage, leaned in and kissed Ginny's lips lightly. He intended to pull back immediately, but Ginny seemed to have other ideas. She wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled his head down further. They were just breaking apart when Harry, Ron and Hermione entered at that moment to see Neville standing there with his hands on Ginny's hips and Ginny's arms around his neck.

'Oh, God! I hope they didn't see the kiss,' Neville thought to himself as the couple untangled themselves from each other and stood there trying to look as innocent as possible. Neville paled considerably as Ginny reddened a bit and conveniently hid her face in her long red hair.

"Well, good night Neville, I had a wonderful time. Thanks," Ginny said hurriedly, before she smiled, turned and bolted up the stairs to her room.

Ron was redder than a tomato with rage. Harry had put a restraining hand on his arm as Hermione cleared her throat.

"Well, good night Neville, Harry, Ron," she said pointedly, warning him with her eyes before she turned and headed up to her room as well.

Upstairs in the girls' dormitory, Ginny and Hermione were talking animatedly with each other.

"You kissed him?" Hermione asked.

"Well, first he kissed me, it was soft and sweet, but then he started to pull away and I don't know what happened, I just wrapped my arms around him and kept kissing him. No tongues, of course, we just kissed, and..." she paused, smiling broadly and blushing profusely, "he held me. Then Ron came in looking ready to kill. I wish he would stop looking at me like I'm still a kid. I'm sixteen, I can make my own decisions, they're mine to make. And I like Neville, whether Ron likes the idea or not. Even Mum and Dad would like him. I just wish Ron would notice."

"Give him time. He will, someday."

"Yeah, when I'm like 30, if that!" she said half exasperated, half joking.

Neville nodded to Harry and Ron and scurried up the stairs as quickly as he could. Harry still had Ron by the arm and was trying his best to calm him down.

"Ron, we've known Neville for years, he would never hurt her or make her do anything she didn't want to do. I'd bet Neville finally got up enough nerve and kissed her, but she took over. If they ever got together she'd be the one wearing the pants and you know it, Ron. Come on, relax. It's ok; she can take care of herself. Besides, Neville knows you'd kill him if he ever did anything to her."

Harry had to use all of his strength to keep Ron from running after Neville. Finally Harry could think of nothing else, so he turned Ron around to face him and kissed him. At first Ron tried to protest but then began to relax as he ran his tongue along Harry's bottom lip then slipped it in Harry's mouth when he complied to explore everywhere. Harry lightly touched his tongue to Ron's while Ron wrapped his arms around Harry's waist and Harry ran his fingers through Ron's thick red hair. Ron backed him into the stone banister and Harry let out a muffled cry of pain. They broke apart and Harry rubbed his back.

"Oh, I'm sorry, Harry," Ron began, but was silenced when Harry's hand came up to his mouth and he smiled.

"Um, do you...er...want to take this to a...erm...place a little more...comfortable?" Harry asked shyly, unable to look Ron in the face, prepared for the worst.

In response, Ron captured Harry's mouth again and lightly sucked on his lower lip before Harry let out a whimper of impatient frustration. Ron released him and Harry raced up the stairs to his dorm. His mates looked at him in a questioning way.

He shrugged and answered casually, "I managed to calm him down and convinced him to sleep somewhere else for the night. He agreed, but I'm going to stay with him, just in case." He paused to gather up some blankets, pillows and P.J.s (and also the Invisibility Cloak and Marauders' Map) before he continued. "Well, have a good night guys," he said and went back downstairs.

He gave Ron his clothes and beddings, wrapped the Invisibility Cloak about them both, and opened the map to check it first.

Harry touched the map with his wand and muttered, "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good." Instantly, the map appeared and Harry did a quick scan to be sure that the coast was clear. "Ok, let's go," he said as he and Ron scrambled out of the portrait hole and headed up the corridor. Ron began to suck on and nip at Harry's neck lightly as they tried to make it up to the seventh floor without losing the cloak or been heard.

"Ron," Harry hissed, trying to hide his grin as best he could.

Ron began to nibble on Harry's earlobe while Harry's eyes rolled back in their sockets and his legs felt as if they had turned to J-ello. He tripped once and Ron tried to stifle a rather loud laugh. Harry dug his elbow into Ron's ribs gently and motioned for him to hush as he checked the map again.

"We'll be caught for sure if you don't wait," he said, unable to hide his smile this time.

Ron grinned back, leaned over and lightly kissed him before he pulled back, nodded, and began to walk, silently, and kept his hands and other body parts to himself before they reach the seventh floor and the blank wall opposite the tapestry of Barnabas the Barmy still being clubbed by those trolls.

'We need a place to spend the night where we won't be found,' Harry thought to himself as they passed the blank wall three times. Suddenly a door appeared and they hurried inside, closing and locking it behind them.

They pulled off the cloak but were unable to look at one another, both reddening slightly. Ron began to pull off his sweater and his shirt lifted some, too, and showed a peak of skin. Harry shuddered and turned his back on Ron trying to calm down a bit.

'Oh, God,' he thought, 'breath, just breath,' he reminded himself.

Ron noticed Harry's discomfort and shyness and after he had pulled off his shirt, he tossed it aside and came up to stand behind Harry. He put his hand on Harry's shoulder and Harry jumped slightly as he turned his head to look up at Ron. He smiled weakly and turned back to continue undressing. Ron slipped his right hand from Harry's shoulder to his shaking hand and Harry froze. Ron reached around Harry's waist with his left hand for Harry's other hand and gently moved it out of the way as he began to unbutton the shirt for Harry, slowly. Ron's breaths were short and strained and caused goosebumps to erupt on Harry's neck as he involuntarily shivered all the way down his spine.

He pulled Harry's shirt off of his shoulders and slowly down his arms, his hands brushing gently along his skin. Harry swallowed visibly at the contact and shut his eyes tight trying desperately to control his breathing. Ron tossed the shirt aside and placed his hands on Harry's hips and gently turned him around to face him. Harry opened is eyes and was about to say something when he was interrupted by Ron's tongue in his mouth again. Ron's hands closed around his waist again and Harry wrapped his arms around Ron's neck while Ron brought his hips flush to Harry's and began to rub up against him slowly. Harry moaned deep in his throat and then suddenly threw his eyes open and broke the kiss.

"What's wrong, Harry?" Ron asked confused.

"Nothing," he detached himself from Ron, grabbed his wand, and put Silencing Charms up just in case.

He smiled shyly at Ron, tossed his wand aside and wrapped his arms around Ron's neck and began to kiss him again. Ron's hands began to roam and eventually found Harry's trousers quite interesting. He stroked the front of Harry's pants with his right hand while Harry moaned louder than before as Ron ran his hand lightly across Harry's stomach causing him to inhale sharply before he continued down the faint trail of hair under Harry's navel to his belt. He unbuckled it, then broke the kiss and ran his lips along Harry's sharp jawbone to the spot just under Harry's left ear.

He ran his tongue along the upper edge of his ear and down to the lobe, took it in his mouth and suckled it then licked and nibbled it till Harry groaned deeply. Ron moved his mouth further still to the sensitive spot at the base of Harry's neck and bit him lightly before he continued along his shoulder to his bicep. Years of Quidditch certainly paid off for Harry in Ron's opinion. He ran his tongue along the inside of Harry's bicep then back to the front and nipped at the muscle gently. Harry ran his fingers through Ron's hair again, utterly, and completely putty in Ron's hands.

'And oh, how good Ron's hands felt, not to mention other body parts,' he thought to himself wickedly.

Ron's lips made their way down his forearm to his wrist. He bit the underside of Harry's wrist, trailed his tongue along the outer edge of his thumb, took each finger into his mouth individually, then ran his tongue across Harry's palm slowly, nipping gently at the softly callused mounds. Harry shuddered and Ron unbuttoned Harry's pants, unzipped them, then slipped them off of Harry's hips then let them slide down to his ankles. He unbuttoned Harry's shorts then and carefully slid them over Harry's now-hard erection, off his hips and down his legs, too, to join the pants.

Ron grasped Harry's hips again and rubbed the bulge in his own pants against Harry's erection and grinded slowly while he kissed Harry hard. Ron began to gently push Harry back as he walked forward to the bed. The backs of Harry's legs hit the side of the bed and Harry fell on his ass on the bed, sprawled out in front of Ron, completely nude, save for his glasses. Ron leaned down and placed his hands on the sides of Harry's hips, just barely touching him.

Ron captured Harry's lips again and Harry closed his eyes with a sigh as Ron began to make his way down Harry's throat and torso to his stomach. He stopped at Harry's navel and lightly ran his tongue around it before he kissed it softly. He then ran his tongue over the faint trail of hair all the way down to the tip as Harry involuntarily bucked his hips. Without warning, Harry wrapped his legs around Ron's hips, pulled him down, and then rolled them both over so that he was now on top of Ron.

"My turn," he whispered wickedly in Ron's ear.

The look of initial shock was quickly replaced with one of intrigue. Harry ran his hands down Ron's torso to his trousers, he bent his head, grabbed Ron's belt with his teeth, pulled the excess strip out of the loops of his pants and belt-buckle, flicked the metal tongue with his own, and then grabbed the buckle with his teeth and pulled it clear out of all of the loops of his pants and tossed it aside.

Harry licked his way up Ron's stomach and torso, and paused at his nipples. He took one nipple between his teeth and bit down hard at first, causing Ron to moan loudly. He lessened his grip and then began to tease the nipple with his tongue; first quick, sharp flicks, then slow long caresses. Ron shook under his touch and let out a ragged breath. Harry moved his mouth further up Ron's chest to the hollow of his throat and paused to briefly suck on the sensitive skin there. Harry ran his tongue up Ron's throat and along the slight bulge of his Adam's apple, causing yet another groan to escape Ron's lips as Harry captured his mouth again in a long sensual kiss.

Harry woke the next morning to find himself tangled up in the arms and legs of Ron-- Ron, his best friend, his-- no, not boyfriend. He didn't think of Ron like that. He's not gay; he just needed to get some stuff out of his system. This was just a...a mutual understanding. They just needed to relieve some...pressure, to...er...relax. Yeah, to relax. That's all. Just two unattached guy friends who were lonely and stressed and frustrated. Yeah. Yeah, that's all it was; nothing more...

But...what if Ron did want more? Of course Harry would comply. Ron is gay, but he never even showed it until last night. How will Ron react in front of the others, the guys? Ron's his best friend. He would need someone to...be there for him. He pushed the thoughts from is mind, though, when he saw Ron's blurry figure stir. He reached over to the table beside the huge bed, retrieved his glasses and put them on just in time to see Ron wake completely and open his eyes.

Ron smiled up at Harry and leaned up and kissed him gently. "Morning. Did you sleep well?" he asked softly while he ran his hand through Harry's hair.

"Yeah, you?"

"Mm-hmm."

"Er...you want to go get a shower and then some breakfast?"

"Sure."

"You're not still upset about Neville and Ginny, are you," Harry asked lightly while they scrubbed each other's soapy backs.

"No. Not right now," he whispered in Harry's ear as he grabbed him and pulled him in for a lingering kiss.

"Yes, I see what you mean," he concurred in a mock-serious voice while he wrapped his arms around Ron's neck and clung to him in such an innocently soul-bearing manner that Ron couldn't help but hold him close to him. Harry loosened his grip and smiled up at him before he began to shampoo Ron's thick red locks, massaging his scalp gently.

"Mmm... What do you say we hop back in bed for a few minutes," Ron suggested wickedly.

He leaned in, brought Ron's head down and kissed before he pushed Ron's head back under the showerhead and began to rinse his hair.

"We can't, we have an appointment," he said sternly as he began to shampoo his own hair, but was quickly stopped by Ron who took over as he began to trail kisses down his throat.

"Oh, all right. I'll be good, well, at least until later," he added in a sly voice with a mischievous smile on his face before he ducked Harry's head under the showerhead.

He turned the shower off and grabbed two towels. He tossed one to Harry and then wrapped the other around his waist. Harry turned to leave but was soon stopped by Ron's long arms enveloping his waist in a warm embrace. Harry turned his head to look up into his friend's eyes. Ron's eyes, usually so full of mirth, took on such a serious expression of adoration tinged with a dusting of lust, that Harry was lost in their blue depths. Harry reached up and wrapped his arm around Ron's neck and gently pulled his head down to capture his lips, while Ron ran his hand across Harry's stomach. Harry pulled back with Ron's lower lip caught between his lips and lightly sucked on it. Ron, extremely reluctantly, released Harry's body, but kept his hand in his as they exited the washroom and changed quickly.

They then headed down to Gryffindor Tower to drop off their clothes and beddings and then continued on downstairs to the Great Hall for breakfast.

"Erm...Ron, maybe I'd better go in first and let him know that you're coming in and it's ok," Harry suggested.

"Yeah, maybe you're right," Ron conceded.

So Ron waited a minute outside while Harry went in to reassure Neville and Ginny, then entered and sat down between Harry and Hermione and smiled at Neville and Ginny whole-heartedly. The small group smiled at one another and continued their meal, talking about their schedules for the day.