Disclaimer: You know the drill
Author's note: I know I haven't updated, but I'll try to be more regular with it, okay? Well, not much to say, so let's go!
CHAPTER FIFTEEN: Skating
The next morning, the two got up, got dressed (Gwen had to help Harry somewhat. It still hurt to move a bit), and headed down for some breakfast before their exams. The moment they entered the Great Hall, the usual chatter of early morning ceased, and everyone turned to look at them. Gwen, however, appeared not to notice or care, and instead walked straight to where Ron and Hermione were eating and sat down. Harry followed her, trying his best to ignore the many whispers and murmurs surrounding him.
After a few minutes, things got back to normal, though Harry still had to deal with the occasional person turning in their seat to look at him. Luckily, Ron asked him to quiz him in Herbology, so Harry got to turn away and think of other things. Gwen and Hermione were chatting about how to advance S.P.E.W. into other countries.
"France and Spain are very liberal when it comes to magical creatures' rights. If we target them, the three main countries of Europe will have been exposed," Hermione said, pointing to a spot on a map laid out between them.
"Yes," Gwen nodded, "Also, Aliyone is a very prominent country in the East. The Aliyonese headquarters already have plans to do reforms in surrounding kingdoms."
"From there," Hermione added, "All we would have to do is take on the United States…"
Ron shook his head. "It sounds like they're planning for war," he muttered to Harry, keeping his voice low, "So, what happened last night? The whole school has heard the news of your fight with Malfoy, obviously, but is true you and Gwen are sharing a room now?"
Harry reached over the table for some butter, but recoiled when shoots of pain pricked his shoulder. He sighed and nodded, "Yeah- it's true. It's so Gwen can take care of my wounds. But now…." Harry paused for a minute, his eyes wandering over to where Gwen sat. She smiled and laughed at something Hermione had said, and Harry continued, "But now I'm thinking something else. Do you think Dumbledore may have let us share a room so that Voldemort can't tap into my dreams when I'm sleeping?"
Ron considered this for a moment, then nodded, "Yeah, it's a possibility, I guess…Have you asked Gwen to the ball yet?"
"Yeah, I asked her last night, and she said she would. Have you asked Hermione?"
Ron flushed, "I was bloody terrified! It was like the Yule ball all over again. I'm glad she said yes- I don't know what I would have done if she'd refused."
Harry grinned. "What do you think about Neville taking your sister?"
Ron shrugged. "The only one I could trust more with her would be you. Neville's a good friend. Hey- at least he's a Gryffindor"
"Yeah…."
Ron and Harry took all of their exams that morning, and they met Gwen and Hermione for lunch outdoors. It had snowed the night before rather heavily, so Gwen pitched a blue dome-shaped tent under their favorite tree, and served them a nice warm lunch in there. It was very cozy, "considering it's a Muggle tent," Ron commented. There was more than enough room for the four of them, as well as piping hot trays of buns, steak, chicken, soup, potatoes, and mugs of hot chocolate. Once Gwen gave them all pillows and blankets, it was very comfortable and fun indeed.
"You boys are lucky," Gwen said, sipping her hot chocolate with a straw under her veil, "Since you two are on the Quidditch team, you don't have to take your History of Magic exam or your Study of Magical Theories and Principals exam." Gwen and Hermione still had afternoon exams.
"Yeah, but we have Potions tomorrow. Harry and I are going to have to use our time off to study for that, since you just know Snape's going to give us something really complicated," Ron groaned.
"Then why don't we do something fun?" Hermione suggested, "It will give us each a well deserved break, and we can stop worrying about school for a while."
They agreed, and after they ate, they had a snowball fight. Ron and Harry entertained themselves for a while by bewitching snowballs to fly up and hit the Hufflepuff common room window, until someone opened the window and leaned out.
"I am a school prefect!" The student shouted down, looking very miffed, "You could get in very big trouble for this! Who are you down there?"
"I'm Head Boy," Harry called back, trying to repress a wide grin, "and if you don't get back to studying, I'll report you straight to Dumbledore, and I can promise you, you won't be prefect for much longer!"
At this, the Hufflepuff gave a frightened squeak and went back inside, shutting the window with a snap.
Ron and Harry cracked up. Ron collapsed to the ground, his face a beet red, howling with laughter, and Harry was doubled over in amusement, clutching a stitch in his side, and unable to breathe.
"Harry!" Hermione admonished, "That was very wrong of you! You shouldn't take advantage of your authority like that! The Head Boy is supposed to set an example of good behavior for the rest of the school, and the two of you are playing stupid pranks! That was very irresponsible of them, wasn't it Gwen?"
But Gwen didn't answer.
"Gwen?" Hermione repeated, looking around. The princess was nowhere to be seen. They began calling her name and looking around, until she stepped from the tent saying, "All right! All right! I'm right here! Stop the search party, honestly, you three. Can't I even get changed without arousing suspicion?"
Gwen had changed from her heavy robes into a very short purple skirt, white leggings, a white cashmere sweater, and started to lace up a pair of white ice skates. Harry and Ron let out a soft, "Whoa,". It couldn't be denied- that sweater really flattered the princess'…figure.
"Now, what was it you wanted me for?" Gwen asked, doing up her long hair in a purple ribbon. Hermione told her what Harry and Ron had done.
Gwen began to laugh as well, but with a look from Hermione, she tried to keep a straight face and scold them as well, but with much difficulty. "You know, boys:giggle: that really was very wrong of you :snort: . What does that prefect think of the Head Boy :laugh: now that you have gone and done such a thing:snigger: "
"Sorry," Ron and Harry apologized with a grin.
Gwen stood, readjusted her purple veil and asked, "So, who wants to go ice skating with me?"
Hermione said, "Oh, let me just pop upstairs and get my skates! I'll be right back!"
Ron grinned, "Yeah, I think I'll go and get mine, too. Charlie taught me how to skate last year…"
That just left Gwen and Harry. The princess went onto the ice a little shakily at first, but soon she was gliding along smoothly to a tune only she could hear. Harry wrapped himself up in his robes against the cold, and sat down onto a snow bank and watched her for a while. Harry had never skated before, and had absolutely no intention of trying. There was no way he was going to fall on his bum a million times in front of Gwen.
"You skate well, considering where you live…"Harry commented, after seeing the princess do a leap and a spin in the air before landing smoothly. She skated over to him and halted, sending a small flurry of ice at his feet.
"They have an indoor skating rink at the palace," She answered shrugging, "Why don't you skate with us?"
"I don't know how," He answered off-hand, looking instead at the smoke coming from Hagrid's hut. Maybe he would visit Hagrid while the others skated…He snapped back to reality when she reached down and grabbed his hands, tugging gently. Her hands were soft and warm, not at all like his hands, which were cold, stiff and numb from the winter air.
"Then I'll teach you," rubbing his fingers, bringing feeling and warmth back to them, "You taught me how to fly on a broom, right? Please- skate with us?"
One look into her eyes, and he couldn't refuse her. "Fine," He answered, with a small smile. She smiled back, and snapped her fingers- a black pair of ice skates appeared in the snow next to him. He put them on, and took off his cloak. When he stood up, Gwen skated over to him, her face beet red, and she would not look at him, but gazed intently on the ground.
"What is it?" he asked concerned.
"I was just…admiring your pants," she answered, still not looking him in the face. Harry grinned. He had forgotten- he was wearing his favorite black leather pants. He had bought them on a dare from Ron, and he secretly enjoyed the way they made him feel- they were comfortably loose, but they made his butt look good. Harry was glad Gwen had noticed. Paired with a black turtleneck sweater, he had to admit, it gave him the sort of casual elegance he had been trying to acquire for the past seven years.
Gwen skated to his side, looping her arm through his, and led him onto the ice. By the time Ron and Hermione got back, Harry could skate fairly well without much difficulty. The four friends skated around and talked and laughed. Harry saw that Ron had forgotten most of what he had learned about skating, so at least he was not the only one falling down. Harry was glad he had learned to skate- he would have hated to sit out on this much fun. Harry and Gwen skated around for a bit, holding hands, but suddenly Gwen stopped, looking at a point above Harry's head. "Don't look now," She said, "but I think we're being watched…"
"By who?" Harry asked.
"I think it's…Draco…." She said softly, her eyes still focused high on the castle wall behind him.
"Where is he?" Harry inquired, mastering the impulse to whip around and see for himself.
"In the library, I think. I can tell by his hair that it's him. He always was easy to spot in a crowd. Nobody has hair quite like his….Here-let's skate a bit, then you can see for yourself. Fourth floor, third window from the right."
They turned back around and skated some more, as though nothing had happened at all. When he got the chance, Harry counted the windows and saw what she was talking about. A tall, pale figure with platinum blonde hair was undoubtedly watching them all skate.
"What should we do?" Harry asked.
"Nothing," she said matter-of-factly, holding his arm and resting her head upon his shoulder, "It's his problem, not ours."
"Yeah," Harry replied, placing his head on top of hers, "Let him watch…"
When it got too cold, and Hermione reminded them all that they should be studying, the group headed back in. Ron, Hermione, and Gwen went straight to the Gryffindor common room. The entire Gryffindor house adored Gwen, and made it very clear that she was welcome anytime. Harry, however, needed to make a stop at his and Gwen's room to pick up his books, so he waved good-bye to the others and said he would catch up with them.
On the way there, Harry ran into Malfoy. Or rather, the Slytherin grabbed Harry very rudely from behind and spun him around.
"Potter!" Malfoy said, still keeping a death grip on Harry's shoulders, "I don't know what you're doing to Guenivere, but I demand that you stop it immediately! You have no right to see her!"
Harry sighed and rolled his eyes. "Just because you can't keep track of your girlfriend, don't blame it on me. It's not my fault. She and Hermione are always together, so I see her when I hang out with my friends."
"Don't toy with me, Potter!" Malfoy snarled, "I saw the way you two were skating. She wouldn't let go of you at all!"
"That's because she was teaching me to skate and I asked her to hold on so I wouldn't fall," Harry said with the overly patient air of an adult trying to explain why two and two made four to an excitable toddler.
"Well, I'm keeping an eye on the pair of you, and if I catch you doing anything unseemly to her-"
"You'll curse me into oblivion. Yes, yes, we all know how it goes by now. Is that all?"
Malfoy just gave him one last malicious glare and stalked away.
My Two Cents: Well, Thank you so much to my reviewers, and I apologize for not updating sooner. I got sort of sucked in by my newest Fanfic, A New Arrival. It's a Fruits Basket story, so feel free to check it out! AND REVIEW!