Not Your Ordinary Love Story

by LondonWitch

A/N: Yet again, a refresher: I don't own these characters. But I do own this story, and the right to tweak it in any way, shape or form that I want. You do not own Harry Potter (I'm just assuming that you're not Ms. Rowling – sorry if you are!), and you do not own this story or plot. Please don't use it, and thank you for reading. Sorry it's taken so long to update!

Chapter Eight: Of Slytherins and Gryffindors

Wednesday, September 25th

There were several different viewpoints towards Draco and Cho now being a 'couple.' The Slytherins thought it was disgusting, because who would want to date a loser like Chang? Half of the Ravenclaws thought it was sweet, because at least Cho wasn't pining over Harry or the long-gone Cedric. And the other half of the Ravenclaws were just as disgusted as the Slytherins, because, well – it was Malfoy. But what could you do, after all?

Draco was actually not too happy with his plan, since Ginny had not shown one speck of interest in him; or in leaving Harry. He could put up with Cho for the time being, but he didn't know how long it would be until he cracked. The whole spiel of Cho's endless giggling, and his constant smiling was a never-ending pressure.

On the other hand, Cho wasn't disappointed at all that Harry was smitten with Ginny Weasley. She was perfectly content with the fact that people truly left her alone when she was with Malfoy. Because, after awhile, you can get bored of being popular. And Malfoy was at least catering to her every whim, even if the mushiness was fake.

So could it be that Cho was falling in love with Draco Malfoy, son of a Death Eater?! And could it be that Draco wasn't in love with her? Well, we're about to find out. Observe, Wednesday morning breakfast...

"Honey, would you like me to butter your toast? Or, perhaps, would you like some jelly? Do you like strawberry or blueberry or..."

"ENOUGH!" shouted Draco, his face quickly going from the usual pale to pink, then bright red, then magenta, "I've HAD IT with your stupid giggling, and all of the smiling, and the hugs! It's bad enough to have to witness everyone else at it, not to mention stupid, famous Potter and his lovesick girlfriend! I'm THROUGH with you, Chang!" He jumped up as his last words rang throughout the Great Hall. All of the students were staring at him, Peeves had stopped midway through emptying a carton of juice on Seamus' head, and even Dumbledore and the teachers were watching.

Cho, who had joined him a few minutes ago from the Ravenclaw table, just stared at him. She just stared at him for a minute, calm as can be...and then the waterworks started. Her eyes crinkled up and tears gushed down her cheeks as she wailed, "DRACO! DON'T LEAVE ME! I – I LOVE YOU!"

Draco looked at her disgustedly, and then pulled her up by her arms. He led her over to the Ravenclaw table and made her sit down. Then, suddenly, his eyes went even colder. "I don't like you. I've had enough of this. You are a stupid, blubbering girl, and I think that even Potter could do better than you."

Now the tears stopped. Again, Cho stared at him, but angry bits of pink were now evident in her cheeks. "I love you A LOT, Draco Malfoy. And I'm not going to give up."

But Draco wasn't listening, he was already halfway back towards the Slytherin table. Around him, slowly, the Hall filled up with chatter once more, and Dumbledore went back to his chilled asparagus juice. Cho stopped in the middle of the Hall and just looked around her, embarrassed and frustrated and feeling very unloved indeed.

On the other side of the Hall, still Wednesday, September 25th...

A large, tawny brown owl with large amber eyes and a sharp beak swooped above the student's heads, clutching a playing-card-sized package wrapped in brown paper. A small note was attached, and as the owl dropped it down to Dean Thomas, the package began to whistle urgently.

"All right, I'm coming, I'm coming, keep your socks on" Dean muttered, hurriedly untying the note.

'Dean-

Don't open this at the table; it would cause a lot of suspicion. As we haven't put it on the market yet – Ron and Hermione will be our testers. Now, all you have to do is feed them one candy each. The effects will last for ONE HOUR ONLY, and during that hour, their tongues will each turn light blue. When the hour is up, the property will wear off and so will the color. Remember, they will tell EVERYONE they see what they think about them during that hour, so tread lightly. (Yeah, right).

-Fred and George Weasley'

The owl had landed on the handle of Dean's goblet full of pumpkin juice, and it hooted once, very loudly, staring at the package. As Dean reached for the package, the owl flew off towards the tall windows that lined the Hall. Inside the wrapping was a brightly pink-colored box, with fancy writing that proclaimed:

'The Sweetie – The Truth-Telling Candy That's As Sweet As You'll Be'

Looking around to make sure no one was watching, Dean stuffed the package in his robe pocket. He leaned across the table towards Seamus (who now had juice all over his head, courtesy of Peeves) and Neville, who were discussing Quidditch tactics. Harry was too busy talking to Ginny – well, rather, listening to her talk as he scanned the Daily Prophet for nasty stories about the Ministry of Magic (his favorite).

"Okay, guys, we're all set," Dean said, lowering his voice down to a whisper so that Seamus and Neville had to lean in as well to hear him. "At precisely o-nineteen hundred hours today, everyone evacuates the Gryffindor Common Room and stands on the dormitory steps. According to Parvati, everyone should be able to see but not be seen by Ron and Hermione. This way we'll have witnesses. Anyway, Harry is going to come bounding in and toss a candy to Ron, and lend Hermione a piece of gum with the candy in it, powdered."

"What if Hermione doesn't want to be lent a piece of gum? Then what? Or what if Ron snatches it out of Hermione's hand? Or if -" Neville said as he started to hyperventilate, sure that something could and would go wrong. But Seamus cut him off with a poke in the side, and Dean continued.

"If that does happen, then I'm going to put some of the powdered Sweetie into Hermione's glass of water that she always has around for studying. Harry will be the distraction."

Harry heard his name being said, and turned his head, "What am I?"

"You could hear us? How many people could hear that? That was the most whispery whisper that whisperers everywhere couldn't have heard when it was whispered!" Seamus said, trying to extend his vocabulary by seeing how many times he could use a word that had 'whisper' in it.

"Well, I dunno, maybe I have freak ears or something." Harry said, going back to his Daily Prophet with a sigh. Ginny faked a pout and said in a baby-talk voice, "No, my little Hawwy-wawwy doesn't have freak ears. My little Hawwy-beary has cute ears!"

Harry went bright red as Ginny continued to feign cooing over him. This whole charade was getting a bit awkward, why couldn't they just tell everyone it wasn't real? Then again, why wasn't it real if he liked her so much? And, she definitely liked him, after that kiss yesterday.

Ginny was thinking about that exact thing: why can't this be real?

A/N: I actually knew a boy who could make his face go from normal to pink to red then to magenta. Of course, once the teacher saw what the boy was doing, she made him go to the Health Room. Just thought I'd throw in that random bit of trivia. (Jen – do you remember who it was? Think 'I Will Survive'.) Here comes the next chapter, but please review first. :-)