A/N: THANK YOU EVERYONE! *wide grin* Thanks for giving me your opinion for the sexiest, prettiest and hottest girl and boy at school. The results are given in this chapter as a part of the actual plot.
A/N II: Thanks to Neko Nicole for her fun idea. I used her suggestion about Harry dressing up.
19. Beautiful Ones
"Hey, where the hell are all my clothes?"
"Oh, don't you worry, Harry, you're going to have a new set for the day."
"Dean! Seamus! What's this?"
Harry looked indignantly at the pair of trousers that Dean had just thrown in his lap. In the next moment, Seamus flung a soft-feeling white shirt over his face.
"We won't let you enter the Great Hall in your usual hand-me-down-Dudley clothes today, now can we? It's Friday! The final day for the voting! And we want the Gryffindor to win the Sexiest Guy award!"
Harry cast daggers at Dean. "What's that got to do with me?"
"Harry, you're the best-looking bloke at Gryffindor. And you should make an effort to look like such, as well. You know how disappointed Lavender will be if our house won't win at least the other title."
"You seem to be awfully concerned about Lavender's feelings, nowadays, Dean," Harry smirked.
Dean blushed. "Um, well… You don't mind, do you?"
Harry laughed out loud and winked his eye. "No, I really don't. It didn't work between us at all. She's all yours, if she cares to have you."
Dean returned with a grin. "I certainly hope that she will!"
"Come on, guys, back to the subject!" Seamus cried. "Harry's still not wearing his clothes!"
"And am not going to!"
"Are too!"
"Am not!"
"We can't let that Malfoy brat win the contest, now can we?" Seamus spread his arms.
"He's gonna win it anyway so what's the point?" Harry remarked.
"You don't know that he's going to win, Harry," Neville pointed out. "You shouldn't give up! You're at least as handsome as he is."
"You think Malfoy's handsome, Neville?" Harry couldn't help asking.
"Er… Well… He's not that ugly, is he? I mean, he's a total prick but… You must admit that he's got the charisma."
"I admit anything you want me to admit," Harry smiled wickedly. "He's hot."
Ron glared at Harry disgusted. "You can't be serious, mate."
"Well, of course he's not nearly as hot as I am," Harry replied with a devious smirk.
Everybody laughed.
"Get dressed already, Harry! We want you to show off, for once in your life!" Dean jumped around with anticipation.
"Whose clothes are these, anyway?" Harry asked, tugging the tight jade trousers on him.
"Mine," Dean smiled. "Just in case you haven't noticed, I'm the fashion guru around here."
"Believe me, I have noticed," Harry muttered, slightly blushing. "Great, I look like a ponce in these."
"You look adorable," Ron chuckled. "Just adorable. Although it's weird that you don't wear glasses anymore."
"Oh joy! I look an adorable little Gryffie prince who's going down there to collect all the prices and give autographs to the admirers the rest of the evening!" Harry mocked himself. "Dean, as sexy as these clothes are, I am not going down there wearing these."
"Oh, but you are," Seamus was hilarious. "Come on! Let's see what the Slytherin girls have made Malfoy wear! It's going to be a tight battle between you two, once again. However this time not at the Quidditch field."
"I don't feel like…"
"Harry, quit it already!" Ron guffawed. "Besides, I'm sure your… um… secret lover wants to see you like this."
Neville's ears shot up. "Harry's got a new girlfriend already?"
Ron looked at Harry regretfully, but Harry just laughed. "No, Neville. Our story started long before I ever dated Lavender."
Seamus and Dean surrounded Harry and started to ask questions. Harry just smiled oddly and kept his mouth shut. Then the love-sick predators, usually known as roommates, turned to Ron, who escaped immediately out of the room to meet Hermione at the common area.
"I'm not telling you who it is," Harry said as his final statement. "Not even Ron knows."
Neville, Seamus and Dean pouted. However, they settled down when Harry promised to enter the Great Hall in Dean's outfit, in return for their shut mouths.
Draco Malfoy was lazily brushing his hair in front of his mirror when Blaise, Mary-Ann and Pansy stormed in.
"Hey, what do you think you're doing, girls?" Draco scowled at the overly-enthusiastic-looking group of young witches. "I could've been in my underwear still!"
Mary-Ann giggled. "It's not like we wouldn't have seen you many times in your underwear already, Draco-buns. Besides, we know you always wake up early."
Draco eyed at the girls warily. "And what is the purpose of this visit of yours?" he inquired.
"We need to make sure you look better than usually," Pansy tittered. "Although that's a hard job we have ahead of us."
Blaise went around the Slytherin boy and placed her hands on his shoulders, standing behind Draco's back. They both looked at the full-length mirror together, Blaise trying to peer over Draco's shoulder. "You are awfully pretty, my darling. But you still should wear something more attention-drawing than your usual school robes today."
Draco felt awkward. "Prey, tell me, what the fuck for?"
"We want at least one victory to Slytherin. Not that you wouldn't win the Sexiest Boy award anyways, but we could still ensure it," Pansy declared.
"And how is that going to happen?" Draco muttered, putting his hairbrush away and turning his eyes again at the mirror.
"You're going to have to wear Armani Wizard today," Blaise said calmly. She let her long, bronze brown hair fall at Draco's chest over his shoulder. "And that's the colour."
"What? Bronze?"
"Certainly not always green and silver," Blaise commented.
"But Potter ruined my Armani shirt already weeks ago," Draco moped.
"Duh! You've got at least thirty-two of them!" Mary-Ann crossed her arms. "So don't you even try to be difficult."
Draco looked like a little boy in a temper. "I swear I don't want to take part in that silly contest."
"But you already are taking part in it," Pansy reminded him. "At least I've already given my vote to you."
The sigh of defeat was so audible that Mary-Ann threw a pillow at Draco's head. "Behave, Slytherin Prince. You're going to fight the Gryffindor Knight today… and I bet that your knight wants to have something to check out during the long classes."
Draco was glad that he didn't easily blush.
The Great Hall didn't look like the usual Great Hall at all that morning. The whole place was decorated with bunches of lavender flowers, bright white lilies, happy yellow narcissi and sweet lace-like yarrows.
"Interesting decoration," Ron grinned. "Especially those lavenders…"
"She insisted upon them," Hermione shrugged. "But I wanted something else, as well. I did the decoration with Padma and Hannah. Padma wanted the narcissi and Hannah wanted the lilies, but I chose the yarrows."
"Very interesting," Harry muttered. He was very embarrassed in his breath-capturing outfit. "Why the yarrows? They aren't that spectacular, if you look at them really."
"The name yarrow means a battle or a fight. And this is a contest day, is it not?"
"I never knew you made so much effort for it, Mione," Harry grinned. "But it all looks very good anyway."
"Thanks," Hermione smiled cheerily. "Anything for you, Harry."
"Hermione, don't you start! I won't –and I don't want to– win the award."
They settled down at the breakfast table and started to load some good warm pastries on their plates. Everything went on rather snugly, with happy chirping echoing all over the hall, and with everybody trying to decide whom to vote. That is, until the Slytherin sixth and seventh years decided to make a drastic entrance and interrupt it all.
The door banged open with a loud, echoing detonation. Everybody's heads turned at the direction of the entrance, and in less time than two seconds, weak squeaks could be heard all around instead of the chirping.
In came the Slytherin girls, wearing all similar, skin-licking green trousers and tops that were more than revealing despite the abundance of canvas. They were followed by the boys, all wearing tight black trousers and black t-shirts, with the text 'Slytherin is the Sexiest' embroidered with silver on their backs.
That is, all boys except for one certain Draco Malfoy, who had the most brilliant bronze clothing ever seen. And that clothing certainly showed every piece of his ass and arms and everything else imaginable off.
Harry watched their entrance in awe. And in more awe he watched his secret lover who had to be the most dazzling being in the world. And who was, by the way, very much obviously pouting and scowling at his friends.
"Look at Malfoy, he's got to be the…" Parvati started, but shut her mouth as she received a horrified glare from Hermione and Ginny. She turned to whisper the rest of her sentence to Lavender, who tittered annoyingly as an answer.
Ron didn't need to say anything to express how indignant he was, it all showed from his face. But Dean still couldn't help putting their common thoughts into words.
"Damn fucking damn. Just look at him. We have no chance whatsoever. Sorry to say, Harry."
Harry couldn't have cared less who the winner would be in the first place, but was secretly happy to know that it was Draco. Therefore he wasn't at all disappointed, but even considered of going to vote himself.
"Think I should give my vote for him," he grinned. "If there's one field I can't beat him in, it's this."
"What? You seriously can't give a vote to him!" Ron gasped.
"Why ever not?" Harry looked puzzled.
"He is Draco Malfoy, for fuck's and cunt's sake!" Ron hissed. "And he's going to get all the votes anyway. You could at least vote for Dean, so that we might have the chance to get the runner-up position."
"Nnnnooope, I'm gonna vote Malfoy," Harry said with a drawl that made Ron arch his back. "And for the prettiest girl… I'm going to vote Zabini."
Ron, Seamus, Dean, Neville, Hermione, Parvati, Lavender and Ginny all looked at him with incredulous and flustered expressions.
"Hey, come on, don't you remember what Davies said at Herbology yesterday?" Harry whined. "I will vote for the Slytherins, even just for that. The Gryffindor House is not inbreeded. And I'm going to make sure everybody knows that, too."
With these words, Harry got up and walked over to the middle aisle. Immediately, loud squeals filled the room, just like in Malfoy's case.
"Um… I forgot this frigging ponce suit…" Harry smiled lopsidedly at Dean. "But I guess I'll make it alive to the Goblet."
Too stunned to answer, Dean only nodded. Harry grinned and walked the long gangway to the front where the Goblet of Beauty stood on a rack. Several students followed him with their eyes, looking confused. Harry even dared to take a look at the Slytherins, and was returned with wide smiles from all the upper years, especially from Warrington, Etre and Montague. And from Draco he received an intimate stare that showed nothing but lust-crazed emotion. Wanting to laugh out loud, Harry turned his attention back to the goblet that was now standing right before him. Some pieces of parchment and a quill were placed next to it.
"Alright…" Harry muttered and grabbed the plume.
He scribbled neatly the names Draco Malfoy and Blaise Zabini in two different tickets and held them up to study them so that every curious person in the room could have a look if they wanted. And he dropped them into the goblet.
"Guess I will have to vote, if you do," a voice right behind his ear said, artificially dripping sarcasm.
Harry spun around and faced Draco, who was looking still so stunning that it made Harry furiously blush.
"You didn't have to bother and come to vote your own ass, you're gonna win this anyway," Harry gathered himself and smirked at the Slytherin. "But that's okay, as long as you don't forget to vote the prettiest boy, too."
Draco answered Harry's smirk, his eyes gleaming with suffocated merriment. "I won't. Actually, I was going to give both my votes to you. After all, you've dressed up and everything, one can't help noticing."
Then Draco scribbled the name Harry Potter to both of his parchments and dropped them into the goblet.
"You're wicked!" Harry cried and punched him on the shoulder.
Draco punched him back. "Tell me something you didn't already know."
When Harry returned to his table, he received questioning looks from his friends.
"What was that all about?" asked Hermione. "Why did you thump Malfoy?"
Harry decided it was the easiest to tell the truth. "He voted me for the prettiest girl."
Despite themselves, the Gryffindor sixth years burst out in fists of laughter.
Draco Malfoy's forenoon consisted of Astronomy and Care of Magical Creatures. He was pouting through both of the classes, for the first time feeling awkward of being so damn drop dead gorgeous. Oh, he was used to be the target of admiration, it wasn't just that.
No, it would've been nothing if it wasn't been the damnable beauty contest, which he detested to great extent, so much in fact that the mere thought of winning made him whimper with disgust. He honestly did not want to go and win that stupid award. It would be embarrassing.
What would his father say?
What would the Dark Lord say?
So Draco pouted even more, glaring at Pansy, Blaise and Mary-Ann for their successful choice with Draco's clothes. Draco glared at Crabbe and Goyle who continuously reminded him of being the certain winner. He glared at the group of Ravenclaw girls who tittered and winked their eyes at him continuously, blushing ridiculously afterwards. He glared even at Professor Sinistra, who had the nerve to check her student out in a rather loose manner.
Luckily, and Draco thanked Merlin for that, Hagrid still seemed to be not interested in his abnormal beauty.
The Care of Magical Creatures was today about magical snakes, to Draco's great amusement and satisfaction. He had always liked snakes –even though he wasn't a parselmouth like Harry. Even his Patronus was a snake, a Runespoor.
"An' who of yeh could tell meh 'bout Runespoors, eh?" Hagrid asked, just like Draco had wished. For if there was one time in his life he would condescend to hold up his hand in the giant's class, it was now. "Malfoy?"
Everybody were rather surprised to see Draco participate, especially Blaise Zabini, who knew her friend too well.
"Well, a Runespoor is a highly venomous, three-headed snake, who originates from Burkina Faso. Reaches the length of six or seven feet. Colourful, it is orange with black stripes. It is particularly vicious beast, a great favourite as a choice of pet for the Dark Lords throughout the history."
Hagrid seemed satisfied, however furrowed his brow at the mentioning of Dark Lords.
"An' what's the purpose of teh three heads, anyone can tell?" he asked, knocking a glass case which contained at least ten little nestlings of different magical snakes. The Runespoor woke up, all the three heads hissing rather angrily.
"The left head is the planner, deciding where the snake will go. The centre head is the dreamer, the snake can sleep several days in a row, living in a fantasy world. And the right head is the critic, the commentator, the most vicious one, with poison fangs. It's often bitten off, since it hisses irritably twenty-four-seven."
"Thank yeh, Mr. Malfoy," Hagrid was really surprised. He even smiled at the boy.
"Anything, as long as you don't say bronze suits me," Draco muttered under his breath. "I really don't want to hear that from you."
But Draco was safe –Hagrid had the tendency to turn all his attention to the snakes whenever he had the chance, and soon his eyes were averted from Draco's delicate form.
"Twenty points for yeh Slytherin!"
Crabbe and Goyle cried out with joy, and hit their friend gently on the back.
"Good job, Draco!" Crabbe cheered.
But Draco wasn't hearing any of this, not really. He had suddenly sunk in his own thoughts. Thoughts about the previous day.
Thoughts about Harry Potter.
Potter really didn't love him, now did he?
Draco leaned against the wall of Hagrid's hut and closed his eyes. He crossed his arms, somehow wanting to keep a hold of himself. He took a long, calming breath, before returning to the memories.
Do you still want me to learn how to love you? Because, I recently found out I could actually give my love to you…
What was that supposed to mean? What had happened recently that had made Harry's mind so willing? Plainly nothing! Harry had just said that because he had wanted to shag him in public, having somehow found a weak spot in him. And Draco hated that. Malfoys should not have weak spots! But, no matter how hard Draco tried to deny it, the Gryffindor hero still had affected him more deeply than he had originally planned.
And now, having been nearly four hours without seeing a glimpse of him, Draco could almost swear that he was miserable with longing. Almost.
Draco growled silently at himself. Potter didn't really love him. Nobody could really love him, not the arrogant prick he always was.
What was Potter playing at?
Friday began with Divination for Harry Potter. He was sitting in his trademark place nearby the half-open window, trying not to suffocate in the strong perfumes of the room. He didn't know that it was also Draco's favourite spot, but it really didn't matter since they never shared the class together and thus needed not to fight over it.
"How many minutes left?" he asked Ron, trying not to fall asleep.
"Fourty-one minutes and thirty seconds."
"Oh, great…" Harry yawned. "What have you in store for her, this time, Ron?"
"Nothing spectacular, I'm afraid. Just that Professor Snape will most likely poison me to near death during our next Potions class."
"Oh, that's new! We haven't accused anyone before of our deaths!" Harry grinned. "But what will Snape say if Trelawney goes over to him and tells him not to do it?"
"Well, will most likely lead to my divination really coming true, which will give me top marks on this ruddy discipline."
They both sniggered silently, not noticing the menacing shadow of the Divination Professor spreading over their heads.
"Mr. Potter! Mr. Weasley! May I remind you that you're in class?" she fumed. "You're disturbing my meditation session with Miss Brown here!"
"So awfully sorry," Harry choked, trying not to laugh. Professor Trelawney had a piece of green salad stuck between her front teeth.
"Um, yeah, sorry," Ron muttered, his face red with suffocated guffaws. "We'll be quiet as… as salads."
Harry began to cough mercilessly with laughter, leaning his head to his forearms and trying to escape under the table. "S-sorry… asthma…"
"Yeah, th-that must be it…" Ron said, leaning his forehead against Harry's shoulder, coughing as well. "N-need fresh air…"
"Ten points from each of you for disturbing the teaching!" Trelawney eyed them two very suspiciously. "And Mr. Potter, you might take care of that asthma before it kills you. I rarely see you feeling well in my classes anymore."
"Y-yes madam," Harry wheezed, forcing his eyes to look up at the teacher in an apologizing manner.
And then it happened.
The clear emerald eyes of the Gryffindor, no more covered with the eyeglasses, locked with Professor Trelawney's in a strange manner. The professor looked shocked at first, and then her mien turned distant. Her voice seemed to come from a vacuum of some sort.
"Mr. Potter… There are so many things one can forecast from your eyes. Much of death, I'm afraid, but also some other interesting things. Oh… Mr. Potter, I am telling you this with certainty I have rarely felt before."
Ron looked at Harry incredulously, and Harry continued to stare in Professor Trelawney's eyes.
"You shall be facing very interesting times, Mr. Potter. You shall be serving Lord Voldemort a cup of mint tea at the Malfoy Manor. The porcelain of the cup is fine china."
"E-excuse me?" Harry arched his brows. "Did you just say… what I thought you said, professor?"
"The tea must me mint tea!" the woman went on, a manic gleam in her eyes. "The Dark Lord doesn't like rosemary! And you will be sitting in the Parlour of Malfoy Manor! Not the Dining room!"
Then the stupor was over, and the Professor blinked twice, only to find the whole class staring at her in confusion.
"Mentally in severe danger, that woman is," Ron muttered under his breath as the professor turned and walked away, massaging her temples.
"Yeah," Harry replied weakly, eyes still wide with what he had heard.
Because he had heard it once before.
A real divination.
But… mint tea with Voldemort? At Malfoy Manor?
When the Friday's dinner drew near its end, Lavender Brown got up from her seat and walked smoothly like a cat in the front stage. She curtly nodded at the teachers and the Headmaster, and then turned to face her fellow students.
"Alright, everyone!" she tittered. "The voting is about to end. If there's anyone in the hall right now who hasn't yet voted and wishes to do so, I ask them to come here now and do it."
A few Ravenclaw fifth years and some scarce Slytherin and Hufflepuff third years came quickly to give the goblet their opinions of the most gorgeous persons at school. Everybody else just sat still in their seats and waited for Lavender to continue.
"Thank you all," the Gryffindor girl smiled at the last voters and took the goblet in her hand. "Now, the time is up. Now, I am going to go and count the votes. I have chosen one assistant from each of the other houses, so that the game should be fair and you wouldn't suspect me to cheat. Please, come forth, Stephen Cornfoot from Ravenclaw, Elenor Branstone from Hufflepuff and Mary-Ann Greengrass from Slytherin."
Half-hearted applause echoed in the hall when the three 'judges' left their respective tables and went to stand in the front, next to Lavender.
"The winners shall be announced as soon as possible. We retire now to that smaller chamber with Stephen, Elenor and Mary-Ann to count the votes," she indicated towards the door where the chosen competitors had vanished after hearing that they'd take part in the Triwizard Tournament. "Try to enjoy yourselves meanwhile."
She winked her eye one last irritating time, and sailed off.
"Children!" a joyful Headmaster Dumbledore bellowed. "This little competition has greatly warmed my mind, since these are very dark times we're living. I want to thank Miss Brown and everybody else who has taken part in this playful contest, since it has been cheering up our minds during these days of expectation of the upcoming war. Therefore, we teachers have decided to arrange you all a little surprise."
Harry watched at the teachers, noticing Professor Sprout whispering something to Professor Snape's ear, making him look sour. But Dumbledore continued already.
"After the voting is over, and the winners are announced, you are most welcome to the third-floor hall on the right-hand side, at the end of the formerly forbidden corridor. The East Wing is reopened from this evening on. I believe you shall find it very comfortable there. It is a new common room… for all the houses together."
The loud fracas that followed made Harry, Ron and Hermione cover their ears.
"Isn't that the corridor that once accidentally led us to that hall and chamber where Fluffy was guarding the entrance to the Philosopher's Stone?" Hermione asked.
"Yeah, think it is," Ron answered, looking suspicious. "I didn't like the place, really, the spider webs and all… oh, and the Devil's Snare."
"Dumbledore must have redecorated the hall," Harry pointed out. "I, for one, am curious to see what's done to it. I doubt even Snape would want to decorate a children's common room with a Devil's Snare."
"I bet he would!" Ron glared.
"Hey, the Slytherins look unusually satisfied," Hermione remarked.
Harry looked at the sixth and seventh year Slytherins, who had become his sort-of friends during the passing days. They all looked excited, laughing merrily together.
"Bloody hell, there's going to be a party tonight," Harry read from Draco's lips. "Warrington, Bole, do you still have some leftovers from Halloween?"
"Would you care to share if there were?" Harry silently muttered. "I namely won't be drinking butterbeer anytime soon. It's like drinking piss and not getting anything in return from it except the bitter taste."
"What did you say, Harry?" Ron looked confused. "Talking to yourself? Hearing voices again?"
"No, Ron… Just remembered I'll have to… take care of something before the evening starts."
Right that moment, Draco flashed his beautiful smile at Harry, and Harry went flustered.
"You really are behaving oddly, nowadays, mate," Ron poked Harry in the ribs. "Really are."
Twenty minutes, the Great Hall was suffering from an excited fuss. Twenty minutes, and finally after that time, the door of the smaller chamber was pushed open.
"Alright, my ladies and gentlemen," Stephen staggered in front of the Head table. "Here are the results for the most beautiful and attractive, prettiest and sexiest, most enchanting and fairest… Girls of Hogwarts!"
Thunderous applause filled the air, even though Draco Malfoy saw fit not to participate, in case his hands would get all red from clapping.
"Without further delay… I will give you the third, the second and the winner."
Some whistles and some whoops.
"Third position… ta-da-daa… Our delicate and sophisticated, although a bit shy, girl is… Virginia Weasley from Gryffindor!"
The whole Gryffindor table erupted. Harry clapped his hands and grinned with the rest of his friends, when the unmistakably pale Ginny was pushed into a standing position and was guided with hands and arms towards the teachers' table. She hadn't obviously been waiting such an honour, or in Hermione's view, silly attention. Being all stiff and her breath not flowing, she managed her way next to Stephen, Mary-Ann, Elenor and Lavender. Mary-Ann put a lei of white lilies around her neck and she received a little crystal rose from Stephen.
"Um… Thanks… I guess…" she stammered, wanting the earth to swallow her.
For her luck, Stephen was soon going forwards, and was now announcing the next beautiful girl of the school.
"The second position… She is the only one who didn't do anything to her appearance to please the eye, yet she was one of the most voted girls at school… Our sweet, intelligent and vivacious beauty is… Hermione Granger from Gryffindor!"
If someone had thought it impossible for the Gryffindor table to make even more noise than in Ginny's case, now it was proven that it could. Hermione was in total dread, her mouth opening and closing, and she had to cover her ears with her palms to make her hearing stay in its healthy level.
"I don't believe this," she moaned. "I don't want that prize… I didn't do anything to deserve it. There must be some mistake! It's Lavender who has to get it, not me."
"Don't be silly, darling," Ron yelled, "You are just naturally adorable! And I bet Lavender's going to win the whole contest. Gryffindor really rules!"
Harry jostled her with his elbow. "Poor Mione, having to bear this awful honour of being both intelligent and sexy."
Hermione looked dismayed. "This can't be happening. Who on earth would vote me?"
"Well, every Gryffindor, of course, and many of the Hufflepuffs!" Ron laughed. "Go on now, get your prize!"
Still slightly sulking, Hermione stood up and went to gather her award. She quickly glanced at the Slytherin table, where all the faces looked sultry and seething. She almost read from Tracey Davies' lips that 'Gryffindor really favoured only its own students' and that 'it was really ridiculous but predictable'.
"And the winner of the evening!" Stephen Cornfoot continued, rolling slowly open a parchment.
The entire audience fell silent immediately. There was a crackling excitement all around the spacious hall, and Stephen deliberately didn't blurt the winner out quickly.
"A real surprise to us judges, and probably also to herself… This was a great subject of wondering. There is no denying that she wouldn't be seductive, self-secure and immensely delicious… ahem…" Stephen blushed. Obviously he had voted this girl himself. "…But the number of voices she received surpassed every imaginable prediction. Thus, with supremacy unheard of before… I give you our winner… Blaise Zabini from Slytherin!"
The Slytherin table was in awe. Blaise looked blankly forwards, batting her thick black lashes in total confusion.
"What? Me?" she sighed.
This time, even Draco Malfoy condescended to make a noisy applause, along with all the other Slytherins. She was soon the target of all the attention, and the floating candles somehow gathered a luminous cluster above her head.
"You're my girl, Blaise," Warrington hugged her warmly, "Go and get your award!"
"B-but… I'm a Slytherin! I… I can't win!" she protested, not believing what she had just heard.
Draco smirked and lifted her chin with a finger. "I think you still did win, and with loads of votes from other houses as well, babe. Imagine, for what I know, also Potter voted for you!"
Blaise looked at the raven-haired boy with great mystification across the room. "H-he did?"
"Yes," Draco beamed, "I saw his votes. And besides, I believe the whole majority of Ravenclaw boys voted for you, as well."
Ravenclaw table was whooping and whistling and encouraging Blaise to step in front, beside Ginny Weasley and Hermione Granger. Blaise cast them a sweet, thank-you smile, however noticing how awkward Cho Chang looked in her seat. Slowly –and very elegantly– she then made her way to the judges. She received a long and delicate crystal rose from Stephen, and Mary-Ann came to hug her.
"Congratulations, sugar," she giggled and covered her with lilies. "Slytherin is the sexiest."
"I can't believe this, Mary-Ann," she smiled, genuinely happy now.
"Well I can," the other Slytherin girl grinned. "You are the most beautiful girl I've ever seen!"
"You're being partial, Marie," Blaise grinned back.
They hugged once more. Then it was time for Stephen and Elenor to squeeze her in their embrace. But when it came to Lavender, Hermione and Ginny, all of them Gryffindors, Blaise felt a little uncomfortable. Lavender made no gesture to come close to her, whereas Hermione forced herself into a hug. Ginny seemed to be too afraid of her to even move an inch from her spot, but the situation was solved as she allowed Blaise to do the hugging, just returning it herself.
In the background, the Slyterin table was almost dancing with glee, proposing toasts with enormous butterbeer pints that were somehow magically spiked with something stronger, like dragon blood. They were now sure that they would win both the first awards, for there was no space for doubt in their minds that Draco the Sex God of Slytherin Malfoy would lose anything to anyone when it came to outer appearances.
"Alright, alright…" Lavender coughed, looking more than disappointed with not getting an award herself. Yet she managed to glide in the spotlights, looking relatively haughty still. "It is the time to declare the three most gorgeous boys of this school."
Ginny, Hermione and Blaise stayed in the front, now standing all next to each other and curiously following the other half of the contest from behind the judges' backs.
"There's no doubt of the winner, now is there," Hermione whispered to Ginny, glaring. Blaise saw this and couldn't suppress a wicked smirk.
Lavender negotiated something silently with Elenor and Mary-Ann before turning to Stephen. They all talked in hushed voices, comparing their notes, and finally nodding in unison.
"Ahem…" Lavender then cleared her throat. "The third position."
Everybody waited in silent tension.
"Bolts continue to come from the blue, I guess," Lavender had a wicked smile on her face. "This person… he has the hue of mystery and dark passion in him. He has been the secret, however imprudent, daydream of many elder girl student of this school. According to the Goblet, he received most of his voices surprisingly from Gryffindor and Hufflepuff. Hereby I give you… our sexy and exciting… Professor Severus Snape!"
The general view in the hall was highly amusing. All the seventh-year girls from Hufflepuff, Gryffindor and Ravenclaw burst into wild screaming, whereas the rest of the students remained thunderstruck.
Only not nearly as thunderstruck as Professor Snape himself.
He looked like he'd just seen Voldemort dancing lambada with Hagrid, and Hagrid simultaneously coaxing the professor to take off his robes and join them.
Harry burst out laughing, and surprisingly, none other than Draco Malfoy followed suit. They glanced at each other and howled even more with laughter. And, as expected after the general confusion, everybody else began to giggle too, clapping their hands and beckoning Snape to come in the front stage. Not long after, the hall echoed with wild whistles, and Snape was covered with flying kisses.
The professor looked aghast.
"Go on, don't spoil the children's fun," Dumbledore beamed. "Go and get your award, Severus."
Severus did not move an inch.
"Either you go freely, or do I have to levitate you there?" Dumbledore asked, masking his minor threat under a smile.
Snape looked at him with horror. Being levitated would be even more embarrassing than going there voluntarily. Especially as levitation had the tendency to billow his robes too much. And he was wearing his bunny boxers today –and not anything but them.
"Alright," he grunted, and acidly heaved himself up from his chair, taking support from the teachers' table, knuckles white. "But someone's going to pay for this, rest assured!"
As Snape made it to the front stage, he really needed to put all his patience into work. The whistles were almost making him deaf.
"Zabini, Greengrass, I demand you, who did this to me?" he snarled at his Slytherin girls.
"Well, you, obviously, did it to yourself, being such a hottie," Blaise grinned. She never was too prudent with the head of her house. "Look, Professor, at those Hufflepuff lasses… They're drooling all over each other, only looking at you!"
Snape looked merely terrified.
"I want to get out of here," he winced, when Stephen came and threw a garland of lilies over his head.
"You're not going anywhere, Professor," Mary-Ann took his arm in a hook of her own. "You look just wonderful with those flowers, so sweet," she simpered.
Snape glared. "As long as that Creevey brat doesn't succeed in taking a pict…"
Flash!
"Never mind, Greengrass, never you mind…" Snape sighed, and began to rub his temples. "Let's go on with the show, shall we…?"
"The second position!" Lavender declared, sounding surprisingly both content and bitter. "This is no surprise, for who would not consider him sexy and worth dying for… even though he isn't that free of tarnish as he would wish the world to see him… He is the pride and joy of the Gryffindor house… Harry Potter."
The Gryffindors rampaged again, slamming their fists in rhythm against the table surface, shouting loudly compliments to Harry, eventually settling in repeating his name in a way they always did at the Quidditch matches.
"For crying out loud, stop that!" Harry looked miserable. "Just… stop it, will you?"
"Don't be so modest, mate! You did it! You are so the best!" Ron rioted.
"Ron, I am not the winner, here," Harry growled. "And I really don't feel like going up there, standing next to Snape…"
"Harry Potter, if you would please step front," Stephen Cornfoot demanded. "We cannot continue before you have come to collect your award, lion!"
"Bloody hell… I'm not bloody going to go there to be called a lion or anything of the sort," Harry grunted.
Seamus and Neville scowled at him and, out of the blue, grabbed his arms and heaved him up from the chair.
"You. Go. There. NOW!" Neville shouted.
"You. Have. No. Life." Harry muttered, but obeyed anyway, grimacing at Draco and the other Slytherins. Draco seemed to understand his feelings exactly.
"I guess I don't need to say out loud who the winner is," Lavender stupidly giggled, after Harry had received his prize and was standing next to the sulking Professor Snape.
Lavender's giggles were accompanied with louder ones all across the Great Hall. Harry saw Ron grimace at Seamus at the Gryffindor table, and couldn't help snorting with glee. Oh, yes, who else would the winner be but Draco Malfoy? There was nobody more sinfully angelic in the whole wizarding world.
However, as Harry looked at his secret lover in the far end of the Slytherin table, he saw that Draco showed no interest whatsoever in the situation. He acted as if he hadn't even heard to whom Lavender was alluding to, as if he wasn't even taking really part in the whole stupid contest, and thus was above it, not needing to hear the results.
Suddenly, Professor Snape glared at Harry. "Potter, this must be your doing," he hissed. "Only you and your freaky Gryffindor friends could be clever –and stupid– enough to do this kind of a prank to me."
Harry looked at Snape with bright and innocent green eyes. "I am sure it has more to do with your hard-to-get –attitude than the fact that I once told Angelina and Alicia that you usually wear nothing under your robes."
Snape went completely red, which wasn't typical of him at all. "How would you know that, Potter?" he spat.
"Oh, I have my sources of information…" Harry simpered. He had found this out once when wandering around with his Invisibility cloak, and found Snape stumbling with his robes.
Snape looked just like he'd ready to kill someone –more precisely Potter.
"Oh… And do you still have those sweet bunny boxers?" Harry couldn't resist whispering.
For Harry's luck, the student body then erupted with deafening clamour as the name of Draco Malfoy was announced. Snape recoiled and regained his composure, however his eyes still glinting with hatred. He would get Potter later.
Draco walked lazily in the front, ignoring all the compliments and whistles. Of course he had to win the stupid blasted bloody contest, how could he not? Being who he was, and devilishly handsome at that, how could there have been doubt in his mind? Now, wait, there hadn't been doubt in his mind. But he disliked the situation all the same.
"Potter, Professor Snape," he drawled as he positioned himself between the two. "I think we need some serious drinking tonight."
"Count me in," Harry grinned.
Snape looked a bit flustered about the rarely seen civilized terms between the two boys, but shrugged it away, remembering what they were talking about.
"Yes, we need something stronger than butterbeer tonight… something stronger than even Warrington's. I'm going to…" Snape shuddered, "…visit Hagrid tonight."
Draco and Harry both laughed. Soon, they were accompanied with Hermione, Blaise and Ginny, and all the six stood in a row for a couple of minutes, so that Colin Creevey was able to take some photos for the school magazine.
"Draco," Snape muttered under his breath. "The Red Chamber, tonight."
"Yes, sir," Draco smirked. "The Red Chamber."
…TBC…
A/N: Sorry, this chapter wasn't up to my usual standards… But I promise I'll try my best with the next one… although it's going to be a bit… furious… *ahem*