Disclaimer: nope, nothing's mine except the plot

A/N: Don't kill me! I'm so sorry for not updating this like I was supposed to last weekend! But things get really messy when more than one doc is sent around! I'm sorry, so sorry! Please forgive me...and please enjoy this!

Something new everyday

Harry sat behind his table. He flooed Ron, whose face gave a fine summery of the amount of drinks he had consumed the night before. He needed the help of an expert as he was unable to get rid of the stench from the room and himself. And Ron was as close as an expert as he could find.

He tried the air freshening spell. The odor banishing jinx. He tried everything he could think off. Yet the smell remained. Heavy and unyielding.

This was definitely not his morning.

He tried to concentrate in the overwhelming fume. It was hard. Especially when every time he lowered his head towards the documents sitting neatly on his desk, the strong odor of dung mixed with some unknown rotting objects filled his nostrils.

Groaning in frustration, he leant back in his chair. How was he supposed to focus in a dumpster…?

The door slammed opened

"What do you want Harry? This had better be goo-" Ronald Weasley stormed into the room with a look of pure annoyance but he quickly grimace as his hand flew swiftly to cover his nose. "Merlin! What in bloody hell is the smell?"

"Wouldn't you like to know?" Harry said sarcastically at his friend's comical expression.

"Well," Ron, pulling his hand away from his nose and allowed a waft of stench attack him before hastily planting his hand on his nose again. "I would say it's the twin's new long lasting dung bombs."

"I would suppose so." Harry said. "I walked in this morning and 'boom'. Everything came crashing down."

"It's Ginny, alright." Ron said without a hint of doubt. "That would be something she'd do for revenge."

"I know. She left me a note. Didn't even bother trying to deny it." He said. "I can't even concentrate! Do you think you can do something about the smell?"

"I can try." Ron said, looking around the room. "But no guarantees. This has to be the twins' newest idea. So I may not have a strong enough counter spell for this."

They spent the next hour trying out the intensified cleansing spells, air freshening charms and literally any method they could think of. They became so frustrated that they even tried to risk using the Muggle air freshener. They were fortunate enough to have, at the last moment, suddenly remembered that the twins had intended all their products to be muggle proofed and by using a muggle media would only make the smell worse.

It was then, the two men finally gave up and two mails were delivered. One for each man. They opened their mail respectively and read through it.

His letter was from Hermione as she asked him to join her for lunch and the new cafe by the Flourish and Blotts. Harry would have declined her offer, considering his state of being. But as always, being the rather stubborn woman that she was, she absolutely refused to take no for an answer. She did indicate more than three times in the letter that it was very important.

Great. He seriously needed to deal with the smell. He couldn't very well walk through the street smelling like something a skunk attacked!

Harry looked over at Ron. He was looking back at him apologetically with the letter in his hand.

"Hey, mate." He started, somewhat uncomfortably and somewhat relieved. "I've got practice soon. The coach says we have to be there or else we won't be playing the next game."

Harry sighed dejectedly. "Sure. See you tonight."

"Yeah. Harry, you might want to check with the twins. They might have some idea what to do."

With that Ron left with a quick pace, eager to get away from the strong stench emitted in the room.

xxXxx

He was going to be very late. There were hardly any doubts about that. Moody didn't let anyone go until he or she had finished his or hers quota of work for the day. He didn't finish his before lunch so he had to stay in. He couldn't complete it in time due to the horrid smell that suffocated him. The smell can rightfully be considered Ginny's fault…however, the motivation behind her action…

It ultimately led to him and his big mouth.

He should really learn the meaning of 'Silence is Gold'.

Harry hurried on the street, brushing pass people and earning odd glances by the witches and wizards around him. Yes, he knew he stunk. He didn't need them sending him looks or covering their nose not so discreetly. Didn't their mother teach them any manners?

He walked down the street purposefully and when he saw the shop he was looking for, he sped up. He pushed past the cluster of teenagers that was waiting eagerly for the close sign of the display window to turn.

"Fred! George!" Harry rushed into the WWW prank shop and shouted, slamming the door open and closing it immediately to prevent the crowd from entering. "I've got some of your product on me since this morning and I can't get rid of it!"

The twins walked in lab coats, as if emphasizing that they were experimenting with new ideas. They sauntered towards the counter leisurely. It was as if they had all the time in the world. Perhaps they did. But he surely did not. He would be late for his lunch meeting with Hermione. It would not have been so bad if it was someone else. He could afford to be 'fashionably' late. Yet it was Hermione. She was a ghoul about time keeping! Punctual as always. Never a second late!

"Hello, Harry." One of them began; he assumed him to be Fred. He was never that good with matching the faces of people and them being twins did not help. "Good to see you here!"

"Yes, good to see you too." Harry replied with a strained smile. "Look, I need your help…I've got some of the dung bomb experiment on me and I need to get rid of it."

George moved closer and took a whiff of air. Then a huge smile spread across his face. He turned towards his brother, who had a questioning look on his face, and said with a grin, "Yup, it smells like those bombs. Since this morning you said?"

"Yes." Harry gritted out.

"Definitely worth researching upon again." Fred exclaimed sharing the same grin with his twin.

"Yes. Now, can you get the smell away?"

The twins who now shared identical splitting grin looked at him innocently. Harry wasn't sure if he liked the smile. The twin was never innocent anyways. They said so themselves.

"Sorry, mete. We don't have anything…"

"Absolutely nothing…"

"For your dilemma here."

Harry let out a growl of frustration. He just went here for nothing!

"Now, Harry, why don't we give you an update of our newest products." George suggested.

"Only for you, mate." Added Fred.

"I think I'll pass. I still have to find Hermione." He said with a strained smile.

"Who got you?" George called out as Harry turned.

"Ginny." Harry grumbled as he made his way to the door.

"Ha! I knew it!" exclaimed Fred as he slapped his brother on the back. "That's our baby sister!"

"Sure, Gred. I remember you betting on Ron when Harry walked in…"

Harry rolled his eyes and left. He was late and he still stunk.

xxXxx

Harry was late. Hermione sat there on her table and strummed her fingers. So maybe it wasn't school anymore and it was unnecessary to be that punctual…but being on time is a virtue! She was an impatient woman, she knew it herself, and two minutes late was two minutes wasted…

"Hi Harry!" Hermione waved with a big smile as she saw a disheveled head looking around in the vast crowd. It could only be Harry! But as he approached, her smile diminished. "Ugh…Harry, you smell-"

"Awful." He finished for her. "I know. Been smelling like this all morning."

"Okay. C'mon sit down. Tell me what happened." Hermione said, gesturing for him to take a seat opposite her. She was definitely his last hope.

He launched into his tale.

At the end of his story or rather, rant, Hermione struggled to contain her mirth at her friend's misery. He looked adorable being so helpless. It wasn't every day that she got to see him that helpless…or actually, reaching a new level of distress.

"'Mione," The boy who was so reliant whined. "What am I supposed to do?"

"Well," Hermione began, inspecting all the spells that had been used, and then with a smile, she pointed her wand at him and said, "Finite incantatem."

The air around them simultaneously lightened. Harry inhaled comically. It was his first fresh breath since the unfortunate incident. Things were going his way. Finally.

He ordered his lunch hurriedly as Hermione's food arrived.

"So…" Hermione began. "I heard Padma's coming back. Ron must be over the moon."

"Yeah. It's about bloody time that they get together. Ron's been after her for ages."

"Maybe we should set them up after you and Ginny."

"That might take sometime. By the time you're done with this. They'd probably have gotten together and have kids."

"True." Hermione said with a teasing smile, which earned her a look of mock horror on Harry's face.

xxXxx

Catching up with a good friend made time fly, before they felt like leaving, the lunch came to an end. Harry offered to pay for the bills and quickly promised Hermione that she could pay next time as she glared at him. They walked onto the constantly busy street and there they prepare to part until tonight.

"Bye, see you tonight!" Harry said, "Oh, once again, you're the best and I love you."

"Who did you say you love?" a male's voice sounded behind him. "Potter, I do believe that's my fiancée that you're proclaiming your ardor to."

Harry turned back and saw Malfoy with raised eyebrows looking at him. He, taking that look as a challenge, smirked.

"Yes," he mimicked Malfoy's posture. "I do believe she won't be for long if you keep that up."

"And he's right." Hermione interrupted before her best friend and fiancé get a little too friendly with each other. She grinned as she saw Harry looking at the pouting Draco with a face of pure triumph. She walked pass her friend and kiss Draco's lips. She was not surprised at all when the pout was immediately replaced with a smile.

Harry rolled his eyes. Malfoy was such a child sometimes. He really didn't see what Hermione saw in him. But, as long as she's happy…he'd put up with him. He wasn't so much of a prat most of the time.

"Hey, Hermione, I'm going now. See you tonight?"

Hermione nodded. But before she could voice her answer, Malfoy who had him arms around her now, spoke up.

"No. You're not seeing her tonight."

Okay, scratch that. Malfoy was a prat all the times.

He watched out of the corner of his eyes and as he turned around saw Hermione swatting at Malfoy's arm. He smirked knowing how hard her hits can be. He walked off and left the couple to bicker.

"Oh, and Harry." He heard Hermione calling his name before he turned back. She was looking anywhere but at him. "You might want to be preparing for some…changes tonight."

With that vague sentence hanging, Hermione waved goodbye and left with Malfoy.

And then, he suddenly realized: What was the important issue that she wanted to talk about? Was that all? To be 'prepared'?


A/N: Voila! This chap is over. I hope you liked that! Please Review, Review and Review! It's really bumming me that I don't seem to get any reviews for this story anymore...

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