Reviews:
Ash Night: Chuh... I FORGIVE you... maybe... Haha just kiddin. Not just kiddin about the forgiving part, j/k about the being high-and-mighty part. Ya KNOW? You seriously can't tell the difference between a screen and a page? Heheheee... Sorry, have to laugh. And Draco will be coming soon. Sooner that you think... Haha I actually haven't thought that far ahead.
Dark Angels: Thanks, I have some VERY trippy dreams sometimes. My logic goes spazmo in dreams, I'm guessing it does for everyone? So that's why Ginny didn't say to Draco 'How did you morph from Harry into you' she said 'You don't do DA, why are you here.' Heheheee...
Ash Night again: Oh, forgive me. Ok, we're even now. That's funny about the shovel, my sister hit me over the head with a shovel a few years ago. I don't have brain damage or anything... I think... It was a full on metal shovel too, really quite heavy.
SiLvErStInG04: I haven't updated in quite a while... But it's school holidays now so I'll try to write more. Thanks for the review, made my day. Actually, I think I was having a bit of a crappy day, so pretty much anything could have made my day, but still. I guess it contributed.
And a big-arsed Hey Ya to PK! (Not the gum.)
This is a longer chapter than normal...
-----
Nothing happened when they got to school. They all just led their lives, happy as a chappy, Ginny forgot her dream, Voldemort started seeing a psychiatrist, (SEE 'Voldemort Sees a Psychiatrist' coming soon to Amerikus' user lookup) converted to Buddhism and realised that hunger to murder Harry was just symbolic of his angst at having no children, Harry and Ginny got together, as did Draco and Luna, and Ron and Hermione. Everything was fine. I'm being serious. I shit you not, mate.
Well, not perfectly serious. Actually, none of the above things happened. Well, not in the near future, anyway.
Ahem. Back to "The Dragin Prophecy".
The foursome entered the great hall, not expecting anything but a great, if not difficult, year ahead. Ginny was not on her OWL, or NEWT year, but she was still extremely apprehensive about NEWTS in her final year. She had just scraped in seven OWLS, and her mother was pleased with her, as only mothers can be.
They sat down and glared hungrily at the golden plates before them. They had missed the food trolley on the train due to Malfoy's disturbance, and were starving.
"Oh, can't they just divide all the first years up and put them in to random houses this year..." Ron murmured, prodding at his plate, as if that would make the food appear.
"Now, Ron, you know that's not how it works." Hermione scolded.
Ron murmured coarse words under his breath, more to his plate than to Hermione, but Hermione cuffed him over the back of the head all the same, making him hit his head on the hard wooden table. "Ow!" He yelled, causing a great many chattering people to halt abruptly and stare at him. He slid embarrassedly underneath the table until only the tips of his red hair were visible. He brightened when Professor McGonagall placed the sorting stool on a raised platform and started calling out names.
"Bremner, Emily!"
A short, slim girl with short strawberry-blonde hair and freckles jumped eagerly on the stool, letting the hat fall over her small head, covering her eyes. It was a few minutes before the hat made its decision...
"RAVENCLAW!"
Emily ran off happily to her assigned table as "Cecile, Brendan" was sorted into Hufflepuff.
"Why are there so many of them?" Ron whinged. "I'm dying here!"
"Ron!" Hermione hissed. "The sorting ceremony's been around for hundreds upon hundreds of years! We can't cancel it just because of some seventh- year's stomach!"
Behind Hermione's back, Ron scowled. He made quite a few faces, too, until Hermione turned around to flick a piece of lint off her shoulder and almost caught him. He was so hungry... if only there were some actual food on these plates...
The sorting finished with "Werner, Rose" being sorted into Slytherin, and Ron perked up instantly when the whiff of roasted chickens and mashed potatoes reached his nostrils.
"Mmmm..." he said, stuffing grilled tomatoes into his mouth whole. "Sumfin spesol bout foo ack Hogwas," He said with his mouth full. "Dey ha ni' diffre kin's of potayo!"
"Again, in English, my prehistoric pal?" Hermione said disgustedly.
"I said..." Ron said, swallowing massively, then forgetting he was supposed to talk with a clear mouth and took a great chunk out of a chicken drumstick, "Goo foo ack Hogwas."
Hermione sighed, giving up, and returned to her carrots, muttering about people never growing out of the age of three. Ron shrugged off Hermione's criticism and turned to face the table, all the better to devote more attention to his food. He grinned at the ever-reloading plates, and blocked out all other senses except for the one that primarily took control of his life: taste.
Harry sighed, glancing at Ron's bulging cheeks. He looked like a squirrel storing nuts for the winter. Finally, when the last crumb had disappeared from the last golden platter, Dumbledore stood up, smiling warmly.
"Welcome, welcome to a new year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. May I remind you that no student is to ever enter the Forbidden Forest unaccompanied by a teacher or other staff member. Mr. Filch has added Blood-sucking quills to the list of objects not allowed in the corridors, accessible at any time in his office. Welcome particularly first- years, and I hope you enjoy your time at Hogwarts. Unfortunately, our last Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher, Professor Ardent, is in India trying to find himself after falling victim to a badly cast self-help spell. But it is on a happier note that I introduce our new Defence teacher, Professor Bromidum."
There was light applause, the crickets chirping outside the hall and the full stomachs of the students adding to the sleepy feel of most.
"I know you are all anxious to get a good night's sleep so your brains are all rested for tomorrow's learning," He went on, "But I do have one more announcement. Due to the success of the Yule ball two years ago, and the New Year's ball last year, after much deliberation, Hogwarts will be holding a Halloween ball this year. It is open to fourth years and above, as were the previous two, but a fourth year or above may wish to bring a person from the lower grades. It is masquerade, meaning some kind of mask or other identity concealer must be worn. That is all, good night."
Despite the sleepy feel of the hall, talk broke out as they left towards their respective towers. Ginny thought she saw Draco, buffeted around by the throng, but a second later she was sure she had been mistaken, for all that stood in front of her was the back of Harry's head.
-----
Ginny's friend Lauren was extremely excited about the upcoming ball... so excited, that when it reached the two-weeks-to-go line she was in hysterics and had to be ushered out of Transfiguration. She did look very pretty in her outfit – she was wearing an army print bikini top, with a khaki coloured jacket, khaki coloured pants which tucked into her heavy black boots, and her hair was out and tousled. She wore a mask of white, with a large butterfly pattern up the top, each wing covering one of her eyes. Ginny wanted to be unique; something no one else would do, so she wouldn't be confused with anyone else. Next to the ever-popular Lauren, Ginny felt like an unsavoury bag lady in her charmed-blue skin, hair transfigured to be longer, and long green dress – she was going as the King of Neptune's bride, complete with trident. She entered with Lauren, about ten minutes too late, so everyone was already on the dance floor, buzzing away to Celestina Warbeck live.
Celestina was a pretty young witch, too young to have even graduated school. She only looked about sixteen. Despite her youth, she had an amazing voice, deep and soulful. She caught Ginny's eye and smiled. Ginny half-grinned back, tearing her eyes away to see if she could find anyone else she knew. She saw her sixth year friends, but, on a whim, decided against joining them. She instead made her way over to a table with one spare seat – there were three people already sitting there. They exchanged pleasantries, before an outburst from the guy in the king's costume.
"Ginny?"
Ginny blanched. Was her mask that transparent? "Don't go screaming it around. Can you really tell it's me?"
"Only because I've lived with you for about sixteen years!"
"Ron?"
"Nuh, I'm that other guy who's been living with you all your life," He joked. "Your skin looks like you should be in St. Mungo's."
Ginny looked at the other two people sitting at the table. There was a girl across the table wearing a long white dress and wings, with a golden halo suspended above her head. That would have taken some tricky spellwork to get it to follow her around, so Ginny assumed that was Hermione. The other person on the table was wearing tattered, dirty clothes with a mangled mask on – probably Harry dressed as a zombie. Ron left to get some bottles of butterbeer, leaving Ginny alone with an angel and a zombie.
"Great costume." She said. Both Harry and Hermione thought she was talking to the other one, so they stayed silent. Ron returned with the butterbeer, and stared at the mass of people moving rhythmically to the tunes of the witch on stage.
"Tossers." Harry said.
"Why would anyone want to do that." Hermione said.
"If I started dancing I think everyone else would run away screaming." Ron said, grinning.
"May I have this dance?" a stranger said, holding his hand out to Ginny. She took the proffered hand and allowed herself to be led away, giving the thumbs-up to her older brother. Almost as if on cue, Celestina changed songs to a slower one, and, almost as if by some unknown force, the dancers in the centre of the hall moved closer together. The stranger pulled Ginny close to him, and for the first time, she noticed his costume. Black pants with a red, pointy tail coming out of the back. A tight red t-shirt, showing off a toned midriff. Horns, and a dark red mask. Devil in disguise, Ginny mused.
She looked over to her brother's table and saw Ron carefully examining the trident she had left there. The stranger gently turned her face back to him, presumably miffed about not getting her full attention.
"What say we blow this place." He said, with a slightly familiar voice. Ginny, so intoxicated by the mood of the place, and the music pumping through her veins, allowed herself to be led outside by this stranger. When he was satisfied they were far enough away from the great hall; he turned to face her.
"You're a good dancer." He said.
"You too." Ginny replied, unsure of what to say in this situation. Suddenly, the stranger had an outburst.
"I hate this ball!" He said in that oddly familiar voice. "I mean, it's good, because you can connect with the people you like, without them knowing it's you..." Ginny smiled under her blue mask. "But you can't even tell who the people you like are..."
"Why don't we take off our masks, just for a second?" Ginny suggested. "No- one would know."
The stranger seemed to agree, and lifted his hands to his face. Before he could even touch his mask, a siren sounded, Celestina stopped singing and Dumbledore's voice rang out from inside the hall.
"Now, I know everyone's having a smashing time, but I must ask you all to just listen to me for a second, and for all the people in the grounds – don't think I don't know you're there – to come inside. The removal of the masks is about to begin."
Ginny and the stranger looked at each other, before going into the hall. It seemed that Ginny would find out who this charmer was soon enough.
Ash Night: Chuh... I FORGIVE you... maybe... Haha just kiddin. Not just kiddin about the forgiving part, j/k about the being high-and-mighty part. Ya KNOW? You seriously can't tell the difference between a screen and a page? Heheheee... Sorry, have to laugh. And Draco will be coming soon. Sooner that you think... Haha I actually haven't thought that far ahead.
Dark Angels: Thanks, I have some VERY trippy dreams sometimes. My logic goes spazmo in dreams, I'm guessing it does for everyone? So that's why Ginny didn't say to Draco 'How did you morph from Harry into you' she said 'You don't do DA, why are you here.' Heheheee...
Ash Night again: Oh, forgive me. Ok, we're even now. That's funny about the shovel, my sister hit me over the head with a shovel a few years ago. I don't have brain damage or anything... I think... It was a full on metal shovel too, really quite heavy.
SiLvErStInG04: I haven't updated in quite a while... But it's school holidays now so I'll try to write more. Thanks for the review, made my day. Actually, I think I was having a bit of a crappy day, so pretty much anything could have made my day, but still. I guess it contributed.
And a big-arsed Hey Ya to PK! (Not the gum.)
This is a longer chapter than normal...
-----
Nothing happened when they got to school. They all just led their lives, happy as a chappy, Ginny forgot her dream, Voldemort started seeing a psychiatrist, (SEE 'Voldemort Sees a Psychiatrist' coming soon to Amerikus' user lookup) converted to Buddhism and realised that hunger to murder Harry was just symbolic of his angst at having no children, Harry and Ginny got together, as did Draco and Luna, and Ron and Hermione. Everything was fine. I'm being serious. I shit you not, mate.
Well, not perfectly serious. Actually, none of the above things happened. Well, not in the near future, anyway.
Ahem. Back to "The Dragin Prophecy".
The foursome entered the great hall, not expecting anything but a great, if not difficult, year ahead. Ginny was not on her OWL, or NEWT year, but she was still extremely apprehensive about NEWTS in her final year. She had just scraped in seven OWLS, and her mother was pleased with her, as only mothers can be.
They sat down and glared hungrily at the golden plates before them. They had missed the food trolley on the train due to Malfoy's disturbance, and were starving.
"Oh, can't they just divide all the first years up and put them in to random houses this year..." Ron murmured, prodding at his plate, as if that would make the food appear.
"Now, Ron, you know that's not how it works." Hermione scolded.
Ron murmured coarse words under his breath, more to his plate than to Hermione, but Hermione cuffed him over the back of the head all the same, making him hit his head on the hard wooden table. "Ow!" He yelled, causing a great many chattering people to halt abruptly and stare at him. He slid embarrassedly underneath the table until only the tips of his red hair were visible. He brightened when Professor McGonagall placed the sorting stool on a raised platform and started calling out names.
"Bremner, Emily!"
A short, slim girl with short strawberry-blonde hair and freckles jumped eagerly on the stool, letting the hat fall over her small head, covering her eyes. It was a few minutes before the hat made its decision...
"RAVENCLAW!"
Emily ran off happily to her assigned table as "Cecile, Brendan" was sorted into Hufflepuff.
"Why are there so many of them?" Ron whinged. "I'm dying here!"
"Ron!" Hermione hissed. "The sorting ceremony's been around for hundreds upon hundreds of years! We can't cancel it just because of some seventh- year's stomach!"
Behind Hermione's back, Ron scowled. He made quite a few faces, too, until Hermione turned around to flick a piece of lint off her shoulder and almost caught him. He was so hungry... if only there were some actual food on these plates...
The sorting finished with "Werner, Rose" being sorted into Slytherin, and Ron perked up instantly when the whiff of roasted chickens and mashed potatoes reached his nostrils.
"Mmmm..." he said, stuffing grilled tomatoes into his mouth whole. "Sumfin spesol bout foo ack Hogwas," He said with his mouth full. "Dey ha ni' diffre kin's of potayo!"
"Again, in English, my prehistoric pal?" Hermione said disgustedly.
"I said..." Ron said, swallowing massively, then forgetting he was supposed to talk with a clear mouth and took a great chunk out of a chicken drumstick, "Goo foo ack Hogwas."
Hermione sighed, giving up, and returned to her carrots, muttering about people never growing out of the age of three. Ron shrugged off Hermione's criticism and turned to face the table, all the better to devote more attention to his food. He grinned at the ever-reloading plates, and blocked out all other senses except for the one that primarily took control of his life: taste.
Harry sighed, glancing at Ron's bulging cheeks. He looked like a squirrel storing nuts for the winter. Finally, when the last crumb had disappeared from the last golden platter, Dumbledore stood up, smiling warmly.
"Welcome, welcome to a new year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. May I remind you that no student is to ever enter the Forbidden Forest unaccompanied by a teacher or other staff member. Mr. Filch has added Blood-sucking quills to the list of objects not allowed in the corridors, accessible at any time in his office. Welcome particularly first- years, and I hope you enjoy your time at Hogwarts. Unfortunately, our last Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher, Professor Ardent, is in India trying to find himself after falling victim to a badly cast self-help spell. But it is on a happier note that I introduce our new Defence teacher, Professor Bromidum."
There was light applause, the crickets chirping outside the hall and the full stomachs of the students adding to the sleepy feel of most.
"I know you are all anxious to get a good night's sleep so your brains are all rested for tomorrow's learning," He went on, "But I do have one more announcement. Due to the success of the Yule ball two years ago, and the New Year's ball last year, after much deliberation, Hogwarts will be holding a Halloween ball this year. It is open to fourth years and above, as were the previous two, but a fourth year or above may wish to bring a person from the lower grades. It is masquerade, meaning some kind of mask or other identity concealer must be worn. That is all, good night."
Despite the sleepy feel of the hall, talk broke out as they left towards their respective towers. Ginny thought she saw Draco, buffeted around by the throng, but a second later she was sure she had been mistaken, for all that stood in front of her was the back of Harry's head.
-----
Ginny's friend Lauren was extremely excited about the upcoming ball... so excited, that when it reached the two-weeks-to-go line she was in hysterics and had to be ushered out of Transfiguration. She did look very pretty in her outfit – she was wearing an army print bikini top, with a khaki coloured jacket, khaki coloured pants which tucked into her heavy black boots, and her hair was out and tousled. She wore a mask of white, with a large butterfly pattern up the top, each wing covering one of her eyes. Ginny wanted to be unique; something no one else would do, so she wouldn't be confused with anyone else. Next to the ever-popular Lauren, Ginny felt like an unsavoury bag lady in her charmed-blue skin, hair transfigured to be longer, and long green dress – she was going as the King of Neptune's bride, complete with trident. She entered with Lauren, about ten minutes too late, so everyone was already on the dance floor, buzzing away to Celestina Warbeck live.
Celestina was a pretty young witch, too young to have even graduated school. She only looked about sixteen. Despite her youth, she had an amazing voice, deep and soulful. She caught Ginny's eye and smiled. Ginny half-grinned back, tearing her eyes away to see if she could find anyone else she knew. She saw her sixth year friends, but, on a whim, decided against joining them. She instead made her way over to a table with one spare seat – there were three people already sitting there. They exchanged pleasantries, before an outburst from the guy in the king's costume.
"Ginny?"
Ginny blanched. Was her mask that transparent? "Don't go screaming it around. Can you really tell it's me?"
"Only because I've lived with you for about sixteen years!"
"Ron?"
"Nuh, I'm that other guy who's been living with you all your life," He joked. "Your skin looks like you should be in St. Mungo's."
Ginny looked at the other two people sitting at the table. There was a girl across the table wearing a long white dress and wings, with a golden halo suspended above her head. That would have taken some tricky spellwork to get it to follow her around, so Ginny assumed that was Hermione. The other person on the table was wearing tattered, dirty clothes with a mangled mask on – probably Harry dressed as a zombie. Ron left to get some bottles of butterbeer, leaving Ginny alone with an angel and a zombie.
"Great costume." She said. Both Harry and Hermione thought she was talking to the other one, so they stayed silent. Ron returned with the butterbeer, and stared at the mass of people moving rhythmically to the tunes of the witch on stage.
"Tossers." Harry said.
"Why would anyone want to do that." Hermione said.
"If I started dancing I think everyone else would run away screaming." Ron said, grinning.
"May I have this dance?" a stranger said, holding his hand out to Ginny. She took the proffered hand and allowed herself to be led away, giving the thumbs-up to her older brother. Almost as if on cue, Celestina changed songs to a slower one, and, almost as if by some unknown force, the dancers in the centre of the hall moved closer together. The stranger pulled Ginny close to him, and for the first time, she noticed his costume. Black pants with a red, pointy tail coming out of the back. A tight red t-shirt, showing off a toned midriff. Horns, and a dark red mask. Devil in disguise, Ginny mused.
She looked over to her brother's table and saw Ron carefully examining the trident she had left there. The stranger gently turned her face back to him, presumably miffed about not getting her full attention.
"What say we blow this place." He said, with a slightly familiar voice. Ginny, so intoxicated by the mood of the place, and the music pumping through her veins, allowed herself to be led outside by this stranger. When he was satisfied they were far enough away from the great hall; he turned to face her.
"You're a good dancer." He said.
"You too." Ginny replied, unsure of what to say in this situation. Suddenly, the stranger had an outburst.
"I hate this ball!" He said in that oddly familiar voice. "I mean, it's good, because you can connect with the people you like, without them knowing it's you..." Ginny smiled under her blue mask. "But you can't even tell who the people you like are..."
"Why don't we take off our masks, just for a second?" Ginny suggested. "No- one would know."
The stranger seemed to agree, and lifted his hands to his face. Before he could even touch his mask, a siren sounded, Celestina stopped singing and Dumbledore's voice rang out from inside the hall.
"Now, I know everyone's having a smashing time, but I must ask you all to just listen to me for a second, and for all the people in the grounds – don't think I don't know you're there – to come inside. The removal of the masks is about to begin."
Ginny and the stranger looked at each other, before going into the hall. It seemed that Ginny would find out who this charmer was soon enough.
