Chapter 5: Gossip, Paper Mache & Interruptions
Disclaimer: Harry, Draco, Hermione, Ron, and any other characters who may appear in this story are property of J.K. Rowling, not me. Well, the interesting characters are hers anyways. I own Eugene and Cassandra. But back to disclaiming things. This piece of fan fiction is in fact just that – FAN fiction. That is, it's written by a fan. As in not J.K. Rowling. Oh, and I'm not making any money. Not that this is worth any money. I think I have about $12.50 right now in my little piggy bank. It's actually quite a cute piggy bank, it's got this little tail that - oh, am I being annoying again? Oops. Anyways…
Author's Note: Hi again all! Hey, does anyone actually read these? If you do then good for you. I'm such a hypocrite writing these author's notes though, I never read author's notes on other peoples' fan fictions. I'd rather just get right into the story. Well, I am SO sorry it took me this long to post again, my parents kidnapped me and took me up to my cottage where I was held hostage far away from civilized society, not to mention internet access. Now, don't be alarmed everyone, but some stuff that may in fact resemble plot (Draco: Gasp - is there actually a plot? I thought we were just gonna fuck! Damn!) will be surfacing in the next chapter. Thank you everyone who reviewed, I LOVE to hear from you all. Now, stop listening to me babble on and read the chapter!
Warning: SLASH
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The next morning, Harry sat at the Gryffindor table with Hermione and Ron, trying desperately to think of anything other than what had happened last night. Unfortunately, the universe was having none of it. Everywhere he turned he was reminded of that dreadful occurrence. Well, not everywhere, but from his seat he had a very good view of a certain Slytherin who he had so not made out with last night. Harry tried desperately to avoid actually making eye contact, however, he was unsuccessful. Their eyes met for a split second before both boys quickly looked away, Harry's face reddening. He was surprised though at how equally unwilling Malfoy had been to meet his gaze.
Harry shook himself mentally, he shouldn't be acting like this, he should be trying to act normal. Hermione had definitely noticed that something was up, and Harry wanted to avoid questions at all costs. Even Ron had seemed to catch on that Harry wasn't quite himself. When he'd asked Ron earlier what day it was and Ron had said Thursday, the fact that Harry had then replied, "Oh, so do we have classes today then?" had given Ron some suspicions. Not to mention that 20 minutes later Harry had walked straight into the closed doors of the Great Hall after having spotted Malfoy. He had then proceeded to insist that he'd done it on purpose in order to wake himself up a bit, and had been about to sit down at the Hufflepuff table before Ron had reminded him that the Gryffindor table was two to the left.
Honestly, could he be any more pathetic?
"So, guess what Lavender and Parvati were talking about last night?" Hermione asked casually, trying to contain her glee at being the one to break the news.
"What?" Harry asked, grateful for a distraction, although he wasn't really that eager to hear what Hermione had to say. Lavender and Parvati's gossip wasn't Harry's favourite topic.
"Well, I'm not really sure if I should be encouraging this kind of rumour. Although, it's actually a proven fact, seeing as there were witnesses, so really, it's more like a nugget of knowledge, right?" Hermione reasoned gravely, although those who knew her would know that she was merely holding out on them. Lavender and Parvati had been a bad influence on her this year, and she'd actually been known to occasionally enjoy the two girls' wagging tongues. That wasn't to say however, that they didn't get on her nerves just as often as before.
Ron looked up from his Batty Bacon upon realizing that the gossip must be really juicy, since Hermione was entertaining the idea of spreading it. This was really quite astonishing, given that under normal circumstances no one, save Voldemort himself, could distract Ron from Batty Bacon. Seeing as no one was speaking, Hermione continued trying to convince herself.
"So really, if I have a nugget of knowledge, and I don't pass it on, that would be wrong. Why, it would be a slap in the face to the founders of this school, who came together to create Hogwarts so that-"
"Hermione, why don't you just tell us?" Ron said, resuming his previous activities, which had basically involved shoving bacon at his face as fast as he possibly could.
"You'll like this Harry." Hermione smiled, and then continued mysteriously, "It seems you are no longer the most recently dumped 6th year."
Harry shrugged. "So what?"
Hermione was able to contain herself for only a few more seconds before she exploded.
"Pansy dumped Malfoy!" Hermione announced, sounding positively giddy. She then caught herself and resumed her normal, more composed tone. "It happened just a few days ago."
"WHAT!?" Ron exclaimed, spitting his bacon everywhere in his uncontained excitement. This was probably a good thing, seeing as this distracted Hermione while all of the blood rushed out of Harry's face at the mention of Malfoy.
"Ronald Weasely! Could you possibly be any more disgusting? Learn some table manners and don't talk with your mouth full!" Hermione scolded furiously, flicking a piece of Batty Bacon off her cheek in disgust. Ron was beyond caring what his girlfriend was yammering on about at this point however.
"This is the best news of the century! I can't believe it, I've actually got something on that bleach blonde bastard! Harry, did you hear her? Isn't this great?!" Ron said enthusiastically, bouncing up and down in his seat.
Harry attempted a normal smile. "Yeah, that's super Ron. Bet he's not so smug now."
Ron seemed satisfied with this. "You bet he's not!" He turned back to his girlfriend. "How was this not the first thing you said to me when you saw me this morning? You made us listen to you drone on about Goblin wars all the way to breakfast! Boooooring!"
Hermione glowered. "Well Ron, if you had any real understanding of how the Butleigh Conference impacted goblin relations in the 19-"
"This is too huge!" Ron interrupted, entirely unconcerned by the beginning of yet another lecture about his lack of initiative in the classroom. "What happened exactly? Tell me everything! Why did Pansy do it? What did he say? Did he yell?" Ron was absolutely over the moon. "Oh! Oh! Did he cry? Please tell me he cried!"
Hermione still looked as though she was planning on holding a grudge over the whole bacon deal, but she changed her mind and opted to join Ron in his taking-advantage-of-Malfoy's-misfortune business instead. It was just a little bit of harmless gossip, and as a young witch she was perfectly entitled to enjoy a little juicy tidbit. After all, it's not every day that your arch-enemy gets dumped in such a horrifyingly humiliating fashion.
Having convinced herself that she was merely acting her age, she continued in excitement. "It was so great Ron! Remember how a few days ago Malfoy barged out at dinner? Well, he…" Hermione continued to relay all the information Lavender and Parvati had supplied her with, only pausing to agree with Ron's occasional under-handed insults and share animated delight.
Harry nodded, smiled, and tried to appear as ecstatic as his two friends. In reality however, he was feeling very defeated. It seemed as though his attempts to escape thoughts about a certain Slytherin were proving to be entirely futile. Also, imagining Malfoy being dumped was hard to picture. The two words somehow sounded very wrong in the same sentence. Although, Harry thought hastily, if I were dating him which I'm not I would dump him because I don't want to be dating him which is why I'm not so I can't dump him but if I was dating him I would because I don't like him and don't want to be dating him.
Harry nodded slightly to himself in affirmation of this fact, choosing to ignore how his logic was entirely round-about and rather, err, illogical. Harry Potter did not want to be anywhere near Draco Malfoy. Harry Potter hated Draco Malfoy. As a matter of fact, Harry Potter despised Draco Malfoy.
Having reached this decision, Harry decided he was going to just drop the subject and never think about it again. Whatever had happened between him and Malfoy last night had been a fluke. That was it. He would just forget about it, pretend it never happened. Which is what he had said last night, so there you go, he was already on the right track. Right?
Before Harry could get himself confused again with his illogical logic, his thoughts were interrupted by a hearty tap on the shoulder.
"Harry, hi." Colin Creevey said cheerily, smiling a little bit too widely for Harry's comfort. Beside him stood Eugene Silverstone, Vice President of the Harry Potter Fan Club.
"What's up Colin?" Harry asked, trying to appear normal again.
"Well, I'm sure you'll be happy to hear that the temple is coming along just fine…" Colin started, glancing somewhat conspiratorially at Eugene. Harry held back a sudden strong impulse to roll his eyes.
"…but we've been thinking that it really needs to have something to sort of centre it, provide focus and…inspiration. So we were wondering…" Colin paused, and again looked to Eugene, who appeared to be pretty nervous by now. "We were wondering" Colin repeated, "How you would feel about maybe posing for an oil painting?"
Harry simply stared at him. After a few seconds went by in silence Colin began to look a bit nervous himself. "Eugene here is really good with paint." Colin said awkwardly. "And it would be very tasteful, y'know, so it's not like you'd-"
"Colin?" Harry replied in a voice that, although quiet, immediately caught the attention of almost the whole of the Gryffindor table.
"Yes?" Colin asked hesitantly.
"I DON'T WANT AN OIL PAINTING!" Harry yelled, causing several of his classmates to wince. The Great Hall was perfectly silent for a beat, and then everyone resumed their conversations as though nothing had happened.
Colin nodded in earnest. "Right, okay. Sure, no problem Harry." He and Eugene made themselves scarce.
"Harry, don't you think that maybe you could try to be a little nicer? After all, they're going to a lot of trouble for you." Hermione reminded gently, hoping not to set off another nerve.
"I didn't ask for a bloody temple." Harry grumbled. Choosing to ignore the Gryffindors who were still sneaking curious glances his way, he focused on the breakfast in front of him, which he still hadn't touched.
Out in the corridor two dejected Harry Potter Fan Club members sat on a bench.
"I told you he'd say no." Eugene said.
Colin shrugged. "Well, it was worth a try." They sat in silence for a moment. "Hey!" Colin exclaimed suddenly. "I've got the best idea!"
"What?!" Eugene asked enthusiastically. Colin's ideas were the best.
"He doesn't want an oil painting, right?" Eugene nodded in agreement.
"Okay, so no oil painting. Here's what I'm thinking - we make a paper mache model of his head and then attach it to the temple ceiling!"
Eugene stared in utter disbelief before finally speaking. "That's bloody brilliant Colin." He said in awe. "That's bloody brilliant."
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That day in Potions Malfoy was a complete mental mess. After he'd gone back to the Slytherin quarters last night it had dawned on him what had actually happened in that closet. With Potter. He must have gone absolutely insane for an instant. When he'd felt Harry up against him on that floor his brain must have decided to go for a bathroom break or something, leaving his groin in control. Never a good idea, and then, he'd suddenly found himself kissing the other boy. Draco shuddered visibly.
Potter sure had some nerve, to act all high and mighty about it afterwards. As though he hadn't been thoroughly enjoying himself, and as though it wasn't entirely because of him that the whole situation had occurred. Draco had then of course chosen to throw a fit, which had been just a fabulous way to sustain what little pride he had left.
Draco groaned audibly. This was absolutely awful. It wasn't just awful, it was catastrophic, the worst thing that could have possibly happened to him. Think of what would happen if the rest of Slytherin found out! Or if the entire school found out! Or, worst of all, his Father. This was it. The end of the world. Although, if his father did get wind of this, at least Draco wouldn't be forced to join He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. He'd be Avada Kedavra-ed before he could say "I'm not gay". Which he wasn't. Gay. He wasn't gay.
He shouldn't be so dramatic though. Potter wasn't likely to tell anyone, not since it had actually been the Gryffindor who had initiated the whole thing. So really, Draco had nothing to worry about. In fact, from Potter's perspective, it would appear that the one who had the most to lose was him. Dumbledore's Golden Boy, cavorting around in closets with the enemy? Harry would probably rather kill himself.
Which led Draco to believe that maybe he could have a bit of fun with this. His pride was still smarting after last night's rejection. It's not as though he wanted Potter, and honestly, thank Merlin that they'd stopped when they did. But for Harry to act as though he hadn't been a willing participant was just insulting. For Merlin's sake, Draco had women drooling on his heels and lusting over his magnificent good looks everywhere he went. The fucking Boy Who fucking Lived should be thanking him for even gracing scum like him with a glance, let alone a full-out snogging session.
The bell sounded and Snape dismissed the class as he exited the room himself. Potter's fumbled attempts to pack up his Potions materials caught Malfoy's attention when the raven-haired boy's bag fell to the floor, spilling his school supplies everywhere.
"You go ahead" Harry told his friends, "I'll come along in a moment, I've gotta clean this up." Hermione and Ron nodded and left. Sensing his opportunity, Malfoy intentionally dropped his bag as well and muttered similar instructions to his fellow Slytherins. Soon Malfoy and Harry were the only two left in the classroom.
"Potter" Malfoy addressed smoothly.
Harry spun around, and noticing that they were now alone, bristled.
"What do you want Malfoy?" He asked, attempting to inject the usual amount of hatred and annoyance into his voice. If Malfoy caught on to Harry's discomfort he was sure to exploit it.
Malfoy cleared his throat. "I was wondering if you might have a moment to discuss what happened last night?"
"Oh, you mean the thing that didn't happen and that I don't recall because of its non-existence?" Harry said as calmly as possible, although he was quite shaken. He honestly hadn't expected Malfoy to be so straightforward.
Malfoy rolled his eyes. "Sure, that one. Look, you need to forget about it Potter. I know you have the hots for me and everything, but it was a one time thing. Plus, I was drunk." He said, lying through his teeth about that last part. God, he wished he had been drunk. That would be a much easier explanation for what had happened.
Harry let out a noise of disbelief. "I do not have the hots for you! You jumped me Malfoy!"
"I did not! You were practically throwing yourself at me!"
"Oh I so did not! None of this would have ever happened if you weren't such a clumsy git!"
"None of this would have ever happened if you didn't get off on it, you pervert!"
"Well at least I don't need my Daddy to bribe the school in order to make Quidditch Captain!"
"Well at least I don't moan like a whore!" Malfoy yelled back, infuriated.
Harry shoved him to the floor and began pummeling Malfoy with all his might. Malfoy wasn't having any of this however, and flipped Harry over on his back, jumping on top of him and punching the boy's face. They grappled around on the floor like this for quite some time, throwing punches and flinging each other against desks in their attempts to best the other. Harry managed to pull himself up again, and was aiming for Malfoy's nose when the other boy grabbed his necktie and pulled Harry down to him, claiming his lips desperately with his own. Harry tried to pull back but Malfoy only used this to throw Harry back down once more. Scrambling on top of the Gryffindor, he was about to throw another punch when this time Harry mashed his mouth against Malfoy's.
Malfoy groaned, first in frustration and then in defeat as Harry's tongue thrust into his mouth, desperate to taste the Slytherin again. Their fight somehow forgotten, Draco lowered himself onto Harry in an attempt to create more contact. When Harry's hips bucked up against him they both gasped at the friction it created. Having realized that he'd already lost control, Draco let himself go while Harry continued to grind up against him. The boys were now merely a disorganized mess of moans, thrusts and uncontrolled whimpers that Draco could only hope were coming from Harry and not from him. Although somehow that seemed unlikely.
Despite his lack of intelligent thought at the moment, which consisted mainly of "Gods no, oh fuck, oh yes, yes, yes…" something seemed to click in the back of Draco's brain at that instant, triggering a jolt of panic to shoot through him.
He wrenched their lips apart just as the door opened and Snape emerged, looking a little bit more than just annoyed. "What is the meaning of this?" he insisted, glaring accusingly at Harry, despite the fact that the appearance of the two boys would lead anyone else to believe that Draco had been beating the shit out of Harry, and not the other way around.
"Nyugah" Harry managed to utter, although only Malfoy knew that his lack of breath had not been caused by the 'fight'. Well, at least it was even more unlikely that Harry would think about telling anyone now.
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Oblivious to what was occurring at that same moment in a certain Potions classroom, Hermione and Ron sat together in the library. Hermione poured over books as Ron attempted to make a teepee with some Sugar Quills. For about the 8th time, the teepee fell apart, and Hermione shot Ron a look of annoyance.
"Can't you do something productive for a change Ron?" Hermione asked, trying to control her impatience.
"But I like being unproductive. Besides, you were the one who dragged me here, yet again, so you should be entertaining me." Ron said insistently, smiling at her in that goofy way that only Ron can.
"Well, you could read 'Giant Escapades During the Dark Age' with me. You see, it starts off with their leader, Mulgur, about to-"
Ron cut her off with a kiss, which quickly deepened as she ran her fingers through that adorable red hair and he pulled her closer to him so that she ended up in his lap.
"Ron" she managed to get out in between kisses, "This is not the place for this kind of behaviour, this is the library!" She got up and moved back to her own seat. "Really, do you even know what a library is?"
Ron gave her his goofy smile again. "Hmmmm, that's a tough one Professor, but might I hazard a guess and suggest it's where the books live?"
Hermione was having none of his cute act however. "Yes, the books live here Ron," she started in a patronizing tone, "but the library is a symbol. A symbol of knowledge. When we come here we should appreciate that not only is this the place where 'the books live' but also a place where we can enrich our lives with the education and wisdom that these books provide."
Ron was still giving her that goofy smile, and she glared sternly at him. He just continued smiling however. "You're real cute when you talk all smart like that you know." He said honestly, and she blushed to spite herself.
He pulled her back towards him and their lips met in another kiss, and this time Hermione didn't pull back. In fact, she stopped bothering with thoughts entirely when he began to nip softly at her neck, causing her to let out a sigh of pure contentment. Unfortunately, it didn't last long.
"Ahem!" Madam Pince said loudly. The two teens broke apart instantly and turned to the librarian, whose disapproving look could have cracked even the most resilient of Death Eaters.
"The library is a place where students should come to seek knowledge, not a good snog!" She reprimanded sternly. "Miss Granger, you of all people should realize this. I'm disappointed by your lack of respect."
"Of course Madam Pince." Hermione said, absolutely mortified.
The librarian gave them another reprimanding glance before walking away. Hermione groaned, her face in her hands. "That was so humiliating!" she said to her boyfriend, who appeared far less distressed than her. "She said the exact same thing I did too. I came here to seek learning, and you're just getting in the way of that! If you'd just listened Ron then this wouldn't have happened and she wouldn't be disappointed in me!"
"Me? But I…"
Hermione took a deep breath, trying to compose herself. "Look Ron, you'd better go. I'm going to stay here and finish up."
Ron got up resignedly. "Okay, fine. I can take a hint. I'll go have a shower or something." He said as he collected his things.
"A nice cold one." He muttered to himself in disappointment as the library door swung shut behind him.
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Yay, yet another chapter completed! Again, I need more reviews before I will post my next chapter, so get reviewing people! And please, be honest! Tell me exactly which parts you liked or didn't, because your feedback really helps me get an idea of what works and what doesn't! Thank you everyone for reading, and I'm going to try to get this next chapter up soon. And review people! Come on, that little button isn't very far away, it's just below.
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