These characters aren't mine, sadly, and I make no profit from (insert story the particular fic of mine you are reading is based on here). I cry out to the stars, "If only, if only."

By the by, watch out, a few of the characters may be ooc. (out of character for those of you who don't know what that stands for.)

Chapter 10: A Late Night in Gryffindor

"Deena's making great progress, don't you think?" Hermione remarked while taking a break from her work. She'd been tutoring Deena for a month and a half now, and Deena was caught up completely in Charms, Arithmancy, Defense Against the Dark Arts, History of Magic, and almost caught up in Care of Magical Creatures and Herbology. (Of course, there was no worry about how she was doing in that despicable class of Divinations; Hermione had convinced her that she had missed absolutely nothing.)

"I guess," Ron said, already tuning out. He never listened when she went on and on about the Slytherin girl. He didn't know why Harry and Hermione were so buddy-buddy with the girl. Harry hadn't responded to Hermione's comment and his quill seemed to have gotten away from him. "What're you doing Harry?" Ron inquired, leaning over to have a look.

"Nothing," Harry lied, pulling his Divinations homework over the previous scroll. "Just my Divinations." (Harry was taking that class only because it would be helpful in becoming an Auror, even though it wasn't necessary.)

"Oh, really?" Hermione said skeptically to get Harry's attention. It worked and provided Ron with the opportunity to steal Harry's scrolls, which Ron took. He tossed the Divinations work aside to reveal the scroll Harry was hiding.

"Give it back," Harry was saying, turning red. Hermione scooted over to see the scroll. Both Ron and Hermione seemed at a loss for words. Finally, Ron found his voice.

"Bloody hell," he mumbled.

"Harry, that's good," Hermione whispered. "I didn't know you could draw like that."

"Neither did I," Harry replied. "Can I have it back now?"

"Are you obsessed with Deena?" Ron inquired.

"You really captured her. Especially her eyes," Hermione said, looking at the picture.

"I just drew it," Harry told his friends, unable to explain why. It was his assumption that Ron hadn't noticed how often Harry stared at Deena in the classes they had together. "Now can I have it back?"

After having his things returned to him, Harry decided to call it a night. The second his head hit the pillow, Harry was asleep. He had a few unmemorable, pleasant dreams before the nightmare came.

Where am I? I don't recognize this place at all. And who's that? Wait, I can see him more clearly now...Voldemort! Crap, I'm in trouble. Where's my wand? Oh God, I can't find it! What's he saying? What type of spell is that?? In the dream, Harry was hit with a blast that flung him back about twenty feet. He found himself falling down some hole. He grabbed at the edge with both hands and managed to catch himself. Someone grabbed his hands. Malfoy leaned over the edge, smirking at him.

"See you in hell, Potter," he said, trying to throw Harry off the edge into the dark chasm. Harry stared at Malfoy in horror. Does he really hate me that much? Yeah, he does. But as Harry stared, it turned into Deena, hanging onto him, desperately struggling to pull him up. Her hair was falling out of a gorgeous up-do, and dirt was smudged on her face.

"Don't let go," Harry pleaded to her.

"I won't, and that's a promise," Deena replied.

"Harry, wake up! Harry!" a voice broke into the dream. Harry's eyes shot open and he sat up, staring at the pale fuzziness around him. Ron was standing beside him. "Are you okay?" he asked.

"You must've been having a really bad dream," Seamus said.

"Yeah, you were thrashing around," Dean added.

"It was nothing," Harry lied. The guys believed him because they turned off the lights and went back to bed. Harry waited till they were asleep, then put on his glasses, his shoes, his robes, and his Invisibility Cloak. He wanted to be alone and he could only be sure of being alone if he snuck outside.

When he got outside, Harry kept the cloak on and went down to the lakeshore. He saw a figure and quietly made his way toward it. He heard the voice before he saw the person, and she was singing:

Somebody's somebody. Someone's someone.

Some sweet lover's lover, I wanna be that one.

Someone faithful to someone faithful, someone kind to someone kind to me.

Somebody to somebody who loves me .

He saw her then. It was Deena. He took off his cloak and forgot to be quiet. Taking a step toward her, he stepped on something that made noise, which caused Deena to look up and stop singing.

"Hello?" she asked quietly.

"Hi Deena," Harry answered back just as quietly.

"Oh, hi Harry. What're you doing out here? Can't sleep?"

"Yeah. What about you?"

"I'm a night owl," she replied. He noticed her holding a sketch pad. He could make out a crescent moon and its reflection in the water. "Sue's a night owl too."

"Sue? I don't see Sue any"- he began.

"BONZAI" Sue yelled, jumping out of the tree above him and Deena, tackling Harry to the ground.

"SUE! GET OFF HIM!" Deena yelled, running over to his aid. Sue got off and Deena helped him to his feet. "Are your glasses okay? Good. Sue! Honestly!"

"You said to protect you," Sue defended herself.

"From Draco," Deena reminded her.

"You did?"

"Yes, Sue, I said to protect me from Draco," Deena patiently continued. "Now, climb back up in the tree and watch for him, alright?"

"Yep!" Sue said, swinging up into the tree.

"Why do you need protection from Malfoy?" Harry asked curiously, afraid of her answer.

"He keeps hitting on me. I just need a break from it. I enjoy it, but that's only because he's the first guy who's ever shown any interest in me," Deena confided. "I don't know why, but I feel like I can tell you anything, like we're really close. I'm sorry. That's gotta sound crazy."

"No, no, I think I get it. I feel the same," he admitted. "I can tell you anything too." Except how I feel about you. "That's a pretty drawing."

"Thanks. I mostly do moon sketches like this. There's so many possibilities in drawing the moon because it changes so often. I add in scenery and color it later."

"You know, Malfoy's not the only one who likes you," he said, trying to be casual.

"Oh yeah? Who else would like me?"

"I don't know. But I'm sure guys from your last school were lined up for you," Harry replied.

"Not even one," Deena admitted reluctantly. "I'm just not pretty."

"That's not true."

"Yes it is."

"Would Malfoy hand around you if you were ugly?"

"I guess not. Point taken," Deena said.

They sat in a pleasant silence for a few more minutes, just the two of them on the lakeshore in the moonlight. "We should probably go back in. It's almost one o'clock," Harry remarked, looking at his watch.

"Guess you're right," Deena said, standing up. "Wait. What're all these bottles doing here?"

Harry stood up and saw about four empty bottles by the tree trunk. He'd sat a little farther back than Deena and as she stepped forward to examine the bottles, she tripped on a bottle. He caught her in his arms and held her tightly to him.

"BONZAI" Sue yelled, jumping out of the tree and tackling them both to the ground, Deena underneath Harry. "EVIL MALFOY! LEAVE DEENA ALONE!" Sue yelled, raising another empty bottle over her head, sitting on Harry's back. She was aiming for the back of Harry's head.

"SUE, IT'S"- Deena began.

'CRASH!' Sue brought the bottle down violently on Harry's head and he slipped into dark unconsciousness.

-

"Sue, what were you thinking? It was Harry and you bashed him in the head," Deena scolded. "Wham! He never knew what hit him, the poor guy. You're a retard."

"I thought it was Malfoy," Sue defended herself. She reached up into the tree and pulled down another bottle while Deena wiggled out from under the unconscious Harry.

"Oh yeah, I can see the similarities," Deena replied sarcastically. "You've already had six bottles of that stuff." Deena grabbed the bottle from Sue. "Sake? No wonder you couldn't tell it was Harry. You're trashed."

"Just a bit," Sue giggled.

"How're we gonna get him back to Gryffindor?" Deena pondered aloud.

"You take his arms, I'll get his feet, and we'll carry him," Sue said.

So Deena picked up her sketchbook and his Invisibility Cloak and tucked them into her robes, then got Harry by the arms and helped Sue carry him to Gryffindor. Sue gave the portrait the password, which she only knew because the house elves in the kitchen had asked her to keep Gryffindor's common room fire going at night. Sue went for some ice and Deena dragged Harry to his room by herself.

She got him into his bed without waking the others and was quite pleased with herself for that. She removed his shoes and robes (he had his pajamas on underneath). Deena pulled the covers up over him, then pulled out his Invisibility Cloak, folded it up, and placed it on his school trunk. She removed his glasses and put them on the table by his bed. Sue came in with the ice, and they put it on his head where the lump was forming.

Deena was about to leave when she thought of something. She got out her sketchbook and found one of her sketches. It was good, but something about the scene really bothered her. It was a house with the lights on. She had colored this one with color pencils and the moon was a pale yellow in the dark blue sky. There were trees around the house, and Deena had the eerie feeling that there was a figure in the shadows she couldn't see. Thinking Harry might like one of her sketches and she had no problem parting with this particular one, she pulled it out of the book and put it on his bedside table.

Someone sat up in their bed, clicked on the light, and said, "What are you doing here?" The light momentarily blinded her. The person grabbed her wrist and twisted her arm up into an uncomfortable position that wouldn't allow her to move without irritating her arm. "What did you do to Harry?"

"Ron?" she said, recognizing the voice as her eyes adjusted to the light.

"I think Snape and McGonagall should be informed that a student's out of bed and snuck into another House," Ron threatened viciously.

"Please don't get me in trouble," Deena pleaded. "Sue knocked him unconscious and I felt bad, so I brought him back to Gryffindor. Sue gave the password, I don't even know it. If you take me to the professors, I'll have to tell them the whole story, and Harry'll get in trouble cuz he was out of bed too."

"BONZAI" Sue yelled, jumping off the top of Ron's four-poster bed. She knocked Ron and Deena to the floor. Unfortunately, this woke up the other guys and Harry was coming to. They opened their eyes to Ron on top of Deena and Sue on top of Ron with a beverage in her hand.

"Ron? What's going on?" Dean asked.

"Are you --? With two --? Whoa," Seamus said.

"Ron, look out!" Neville yelled, seeing Sue raising her bottle and taking aim for Ron's head. Ron moved his head to the side and Sue's bottle connected with Deena's face, knocking her unconscious.

"Uh-oh. I'm in big trouble," Sue said, giggling. She leapt off Ron's back, returning to the shadows on top of his four-poster.

"Deena?" Harry asked groggily. He found his glasses, shoved them on his nose, sat up in bed, and took in the scene before him. "What the hell? What happened to Deena?" He rushed over as Ron got to his feet.

Footsteps approached the door to their room. Hurriedly, Harry picked up Deena, put her in his bed, and laid down on his side to front of her to block her from the view of anyone in the doorway. Ron jumped into his bed and, not having enough time to turn off his light, grabbed a textbook and opened it to a random page.

The door opened and McGonagall stuck her head into the room. She scanned the room and finally focused her attention on Ron, who appeared to be the only one awake. "Weasley, might I inquire what you're doing with the light on at one fifty-one in the morning?" said McGonagall.

"I couldn't sleep, so I decided to study for my N.E.W.T.s," Ron replied casually, as though he studied 24/7. "Don't worry, Professor. I promise I'll have the light off by two."

"Very well," McGonagall said. "Oh, and Weasley? You might get farther if the book was right side up," she pointed out before leaving.

-

She looks so sweet lying there. I wonder if her hair is soft. Maybe her lips taste like sugar. What does she look like without her glasses? I wish I could see her in something other than her robes.

Harry glanced at his watch. It was two-thirty now. She'd probably come to soon. Ron and the others had fallen asleep waiting. A moan from his bed caught his attention and he watched Deena open her eyes beneath her glasses.

"Sue, you're dead," Deena mumbled, glaring at the top of Ron's four-poster. A giggle replied and Harry turned to look at Sue's location. Only her eyes were visible in the shadows and it was creepy to see disembodied eyes in his room.

"Are you alright?" Harry asked.

"Am I alright? I had my face bashed in by Sue with a Sake bottle. Were you alright after she hit you?" Deena responded. "What time is it?"

"Two thirty," he told her.

"Oh, pickle rats! I have to get back to Slytherin," Deena cursed, getting out of his bed.

"Why's that?" Harry inquired, afraid that Ron had scared her away and ruined any chance Harry had with her.

"Early morning. I've gotta be up at five forty-five," she mumbled, heading for the door. "And don't even think about jumping on me, Sue."

Harry heard a dejected little sigh from the shadows and then a "BONZAI" Sue leapt from the shadows, knocking him down for the second time that night.

-----

Okay, crediting the song Deena sings. It's Christina Aguilera's Somebody.