CHAPTER XX THE TRUTH COMES OUT
Sunday came, the whole school was suppose to get the Great Hall for the Lunar Ball tonight, but the Ball was cancelled and postponed three days before because of ehem... what Sirius and Snape allegedly had done, Harry, Ron, Neville and Draco or as they call themselves failure foursome were walking to the Great Hall to get breakfast, but even before they could have gotten to the Hall, they noticed some of the students they passed by act a little suspicious while looking at him, he wondered why they were acting like they were, he turned to Draco to ask something about it but Draco already got ahead of him.
"No Potter, there's no sign on your back that says I'm a kinky homo," said Draco not looking at Harry "Even though I'm very tempted, I'm not in the mood,"
The four arrived at the Great Hall and immediately, the whole attention was now focused at Harry, as they paced to their seats, he noticed at the Slytherin table that Derek Dolohov was grinning at him maliciously, he instantly knew that Draco saw him too and he was presuming that Draco was giving Dolohov a gesture at the House mate, judging by the change on Dolohov's face, he scanned around and saw everyone's eyes following his every move, he still don't have a clue why.
"I never got the chance to ask you how you made them cooperate with you," Harry said to Draco
"Oh them, I just used the Imperius curse on them when they weren't looking," whispered Draco to Harry's ear
"Damn it Draco, that's illegal, if the authorities find out, you'll be spending the rest of your teenage years at Azkaban," whispered Harry
"Well, I felt like doing it," said Draco
"Harry, why is everyone looking right us?" asked Ron
"Get over yourself Weasley, can't you see that their all looking at Potter here," said Draco
"Can't you two just shut up for a minute?" said Neville
"Why Longbottom? Does a lot of attention make you feel uncomfortable? Maybe you could call your mommy and hide under her skirt where you belong," said Draco "Psst Potter, what did you do now, is it something that would make your friend Draco proud of you?" said Draco
"Shhh, of course not, I haven't done anything illegal," said Harry
"So you say Potter, so you say," said Draco
The four of them arrived at the Gryffindor table; Harry noticed that even his own Housemates were looking at him funny, then he wondered... he raised his right arm and smelled his armpit, the funny thing was the other three did the same.
"I don't smell," said Harry after smelling his other armpit
"All minty here," said Neville
"Yep, the sweet smell of me," said Draco
"I'm good," said Ron
"I don't see, Ginny, Hermione, Parvati or Luna anywhere," said Neville
"Seamus, why is everyone staring at me?' asked Harry
"Well..."
"Because Mr. Potter," came a voice from behind him
Harry turned around and saw Hermione's uncle standing right behind him.
Harry quickly got to his feet "Mr. Granger sir, I-ah, may I ask where your niece is?" asked Harry
"Mr. Potter, I'd like to tell you that Hermione has told me everything about how she made you act as her... boyfriend, and she also told me how much burden she's been for you, well, I would pester you for the next thirty more minutes, but I am a Ravenclaw, and Ravenclaws would never stoop so low, I always thought that you are bad news, you're not good enough for my standards, you'll never will be," said Waynard
Suddenly, the students at the Ravenclaw table erupted into claps, but they stopped instantly when Draco stood up and glared at them.
Harry looked at Waynard with no sign of intimidation on his face "I'm sorry if you feel that way sir, and you're right that I'm never going to match your standards, you see I'm not a Centaur am I," said Harry straight to Waynard's face
"Hah! Nice one Potter," he heard Draco say behind him, but he hadn't move an inch, he was still looking Hermione's uncle straight in his eyes without fear
"Now may I kindly ask? Sir! To know where Hermione is! Sir! Because we have something to discuss on our own! Sir! A discussion, that doesn't include your arrogant nose! Sir! Was that close enough to your standards! Sir! You can't blame me for trying can't you! Sir!" shouted Harry who seemed to get louder every sentence
"You have the guts, haven't you, Mr. Potter, my niece isn't here as you see, go find her on your own," said Waynard before walking away
"Very good Potter! You're learning!" said Draco slapping Harry hard on the back
"I'm going to die, I just know it," said Harry
"C'mon mate, let's eat first, we can't think straight with our stomachs empty," said Ron
"For once in my life I agree with Weasley Potter, thought I'm against the second one he said. I think you're full already, Weasley. You still wouldn't be able to think straight even if you weren't, it's against the law of nature," said Draco.
"Shut up." said Ron.
The four of them ate breakfast and finished quickly to avoid all of the gazes at them, Neville suggested that they should take a walk around the courtyard to get some fresh air. They were walking around near the Quidditch pitch when someone blocked their way.
"Looky, looky, well Potter, it seems you proved me right after all, you are a fraud," said Dolohov
"That's the exact line I would have told you if I was still at there side," said Draco
"Hi Dolohov, by the way, I want to congratulate you for winning the Quidditch Cup, oh wait, you didn't," said Harry
"Really Potter, you're going to make me cry," whispered Draco
"Oh and what do we have here? Draco Malfoy? The washed up has been, it's great to see you again, well no it's not," said Dolohov
Draco just smiled at Dolohov "Dolohov, I thought the air smelled the rotting of a corpse, I should have guessed you were around," said Draco. Ron and Neville sniggered behind him.
Dolohov glared at Draco, he turned around and glared at his cronies as well, the reason was because he heard them snigger behind him too, the Slytherins stopped immediately.
"Well now, now that Hermione has no more boyfriend to pester her, she shall be mine," said Dolohov
"Amazing, I've never seen such dung talk like that, have you Weasley?" asked Draco
"Nope,"
"Have you Longbottom?"
"I guess I haven't,"
"Have you Potter?"
"Well I thought I have once, but then I realized it was Derek Dolohov talking about getting Hermione for himself," said Harry
Dolohov gritted his teeth in anger "Your petty insults will be the cause of your early-"
"Early what?" came Sirius's voice
"Um, bath?" said Dolohov with a lack of confidence
"Bath, okay you four, tell me the truth, have you all taken showers this morning?" asked Sirius kiddingly
"Yep," said Neville and Ron
"No bombs here," said Harry
"Twice," said Draco
"This isn't over yet Potter, you too Malfoy," said Dolohov before stomping away
"No need to cry Dolohov! I don't ever want to see you cry! Well no, who am I kidding!" yelled Draco
"That's a really nice move your doing I really admire that... walking away!" yelled Harry
Dolohov ignored them but by the way he kicked the ground, Harry would say that he got through to him.
"That's enough you two," said Sirius, the four laughed
"Sirius, do you know where Hermione is?" asked Harry
"No Harry, which brings me to the topic that the whole school is raving about today," said Sirius
"How did everyone knew so quickly," asked Ron
"Yeah, all we know is Hermione told everything to her uncle and that's about it," said Neville
"You can send all your thanks to Colin Creevey and his paper The Hogwarts Daily," said Sirius
"Remind me to kill him later okay Draco," said Harry, Draco gave him a thumbs up
"So Harry, I guess you're feeling a little bit of hectic aren't you?" asked Sirius
"Yeah," said Harry
"Hectic is an understatement," said Ron
"Oh, and you boys, I understand that you have a little bit of problems yourselves," said Sirius
"I'm going to kill Colin," said Ron
"Not before I do," said Neville
"Get a number," said Draco
"What I don't get is you two were so perfect for each other, heck, you even fooled Remus and Dumbledore because of it, and what about the times you've kissed each other, don't you feel anything," asked Sirius
"Come off it Sirius, Hermione told me to kiss her if it were necessary," said Harry
"And I bet you wished that necessary things would happen often do you?" said Sirius
"Oh for God's sake, this is going to take too long! Let me tell the summary, Him and her pretended to be a couple, now that's over but Potter really have feelings for Granger, but since that hell has come upon his bloody life, Potter here wouldn't have a chance to tell that to Granger, now here's his problem, Granger's location," said Draco frankly
"Well I would have preferred that way of explaining things, though I wouldn't recommend it to anybody," said Sirius
"Yeah, he's been a lot of help lately," said Harry
"And a lot of pain in the ass too," said Ron
Sirius chuckled "Well you have to know that I'm sworn to secrecy by those girls, and I'm the kind of man who will not let my word slip, all I know is their going to have some kind of a slumber party tomorrow night that's all I know and I would have to die rather than repeating it once more, I repeat it again their going to have some kind of a slumber party tomorrow night, four of them, Luna, Hermione, Parvati Patil and Ginny," said Sirius
"You're weird," said Draco plainly
"Aren't they a little bit too old enough to have Slumber parties?" said Ron
"Their women, what's the difference?" said Draco
"Sleep over is a better term," said Neville
"C'mon guys, let's go at the Quidditch field, I don't think there's anyone there right now," said Ron
"Don't tell them I said that okay," called Sirius
"It depends on what you said," came a voice behind Sirius
"Whahh!" screamed Sirius in surprise, he turned around and saw Professor Smith standing behind him "What on earth are you doing! You almost gave me a heart attack!" yelled Sirius holding his chest
"It is unfortunate that you didn't," muttered someone's voice
"Did you hear something?" asked Sirius to Smith
"No, all I can hear are birds singing, that's all I can hear, Sirius," said Smith walking close towards Sirius
"Okay, did you want to tell me something?" asked Sirius
"My what great muscles you have," said Smith
"What? Oh these guns right here, I always keep my figure in check you know," said Sirius
"Really, and what rough looking beard you have," said Smith
"Yeah, if more people would say that to me, I'd probably shave them," said Sirius
"And you have the most piercing eyes," said Smith
"The better to see you with Grand ma? What is this, is this an interview of some sort, because I'm still angry at the media for saying all those things about me when I escaped Azkaban," said Sirius
Smith laughed frantically "Oh you're such a kidder you," said Smith slapping Sirius playfully on the shoulder
"Yeah, so, you didn't come here just to compliment on my looks haven't you, not that I'm not grateful but it would have been better coming from a female," said Sirius
Smith continued on laughing, "Stop joking you," said Smith again slapping Sirius playfully on the shoulder
Sirius narrowed his eyes at him, then he turned to the bushes nearby "Did you hear somebody sniggering?" asked Sirius
Smith ignored his question "When will you stop with those jokes of yours!" laughed Smith
Sirius took a few steps backward "Err... well, if you don't mind, I have to go, I have some work to attend to," said Sirius, and then he walked quickly as he can from Smith while muttering, "Is it me or was he hitting on me?" he asked himself
Smith was left sighing by the sight of Sirius leaving, then he was suddenly called by somebody behind the bushes near him.
"Who's hiding there?" asked Smith, and then Snape came out of the bushes with pieces of grass and dirt all over him "Severus? What are you doing there?" asked the Professor
Snape brushed the pieces of leaves on his greasy black hair "I was checking these bushes for Madam Sprout," said Snape
"So did you hear me and Sirius talking just earlier?" asked Smith
"Yes, didn't I tell you that he has very much great interest in you," said Snape
"But he acted funny, I couldn't get a vibe from him," said Smith
"Get a vibe?' muttered Snape
"What did you say?" asked Smith
"Oh that's just his front, you can tell that he likes you by the way he tells you off, ignore you and tell you that he's not gay and he has no mutual interest," said Snape
"Ohhh, like, the more you hate, the more you love, is that it?' asked Smith
Snape raised an eyebrow "Yes, sure," said Snape "Now what are you waiting for? Pester him," said Snape pointing at the way Sirius has went to, Smith gladly ran off
"You'll get yours Black, I promise," said Snape darkly (AN Snape, you're scaring the living daylights out of me)
At the Quidditch Pitch where the Failure Foursome had went to, Harry and Draco decided to go and play Quidditch by themselves. After about an hour, the two took a sit at the stands.
"You've been out of it bad Potter, you can't even play straight," said Draco taking a sit beside Harry
"What's the score again," asked Harry glaring at Draco
"You have a total score of Zero," said Draco
"And what about you," said Harry
"Same score as yours," said Draco, sounding mortified
Harry shook his head at him.
"Well I could have bloody caught that damn Snitch one time!" yelled Draco
"But there's one thing, you didn't," said Harry
"Bastard," said Draco but Harry just ignored him
"Have you seen Ron and Neville?" asked Harry
"What do I look like? Lost and found? Don't you think their a little old enough to handle themselves?" said Draco.
Harry just gave the good old-fashioned eye roll.
"Then again, we are talking about Longbottom and Weasley here," said Draco brushing his chin
"Look, there they are," said Harry pointing at the two
Ron was holding a plate full of chicken legs while Neville was carrying a tray of Butterbeers, the two reached Harry and Draco and placed their trays at the stands and sat down helping their selves with a couple of chicken legs.
"Where have you two been?" asked Harry
"We went to the Great Hall to bring ourselves something to eat, I'm starving," said Ron
"You're always hungry," said Draco
"Up yours Malfoy," said Ron
"Yeah, yeah, just hand me a Butterbeer," said Draco, Neville took one from the tray and handed it to him
"By the way Harry, Mum found out about you and Hermione, she sent me an Howler earlier, poor Pigwidgeon, he took off and flew for dear life," said Ron
"What did she say in the Howler?" asked Harry
"Oh, that you and her breaking up was the stupidest mistake you can make in your entire life," said Ron.
"She must have took it pretty hard, does she know about what happened between you and Parvati?" asked Harry
"Yeah, and you know what she said? She said that it served me right, she had a say for Neville too, said that if Neville would make another tear fall down from Ginny's eyes, she's going to sic Charlie on him," said Ron
Neville turned red "Hang on, who wrote those to your mother, I'm sure that you're not crazy enough to do that," said Neville
"You're darn right I'm not, if I wanted a death sentence then I'd dig a hole somewhere and bury myself alive," said Ron
"So what do you guys want to do now?" asked Harry
"We can do my plan and tell jokes about the women that are making our lives hell," said Draco
"Good plan," said Harry
"Sounds good," said Neville
"So who wants to start?" asked Ron
"Let's go by the first letters of our names," suggested Draco
"Then you go first," said Ron "Your name is the first to come up, Draco,"
"No that's just stupid, how about by the arrangement of our tables?" said Draco
"Your still the first to go," said Harry "Slytherin comes first remember," said Harry
Draco glared at Ron and took a bite out of his chicken leg.
"I just don't get women that's all, first their the most understanding person you ever knew," said Harry
"Here, here Potter," said Draco raising his chicken in the air
"I know what you're talking about bro," said Neville
"I happened to suffer an event like that with Parvati," said Ron
"And the next thing you know their all over your neck," said Harry
"Yeah, and you know what irritates me with Parvati, she always makes me wait for her in the common room so we can go to classes together, but the thing is it takes her 15 bloody minutes for her to do whatever she does on their dorm, there's hardly any difference," said Ron
"Parvati takes 15 minutes? I'm lucky, Ginny takes 2, she's even faster that I am," said Neville
"What do you think they do?" asked Harry
"It's a scam Potter, it's a lousy cruel scam," said Draco
"How about you Harry, what can you say about Hermione? I'm sure that you can say something better than Ron because you've been hanging out with her more than him," said Neville
"Well you know Hermione, she's always in the library, if she's not at the library, then you can find her at the common room reading the books she borrowed from the library, that makes me a little angry at her because I think she's doing nothing in her life but to study, I don't know what going to happen to her when we graduate and she wouldn't be able to read any books here again," said Harry
"And?" asked Draco
"And... you know, she always walks away from us when she gets angry, she the most... uptight person I ever knew, the most edged, smart, clever, beautiful..." Harry was being cut off by Draco when he saw Draco's hands waving in front of him
"Potter! You're losing the subject," said Draco "How about you Weasley, what does Parvati do to tick you off?"
"Got the whole day? Cause there's a lot of things that I hate about her, I hate the way she goes to lavender and tell stories about me and her, I hate her always smudging me whenever she gets the chance, I hate... I hate... I hate her beautiful eyes always looking right at me, I hate her smile that always greets me in the morning, I hate her, I hate her, I hate her, I love her, I love her," said Ron
"Charming Weasley, Longbottom?" asked Draco
"Ginny, now she's a real push over, she's always dragging me around all over the place, she eats like a crazy person, she's like a bottomless pit when it comes to taking her out on a date, I mean, she totally wasted my allowance for a whole week," said Neville
"Now that's what I'm talking about, go on Longbottom," said Draco
"She's always bossing me around like she's the boss of me," said Neville
"One thing Longbottom, you're committed to her, she has the right to boss you around," said Draco
Neville ignored Draco's remark "She's always ordering me around like I don't have the ability to think," said Neville
Draco opened his mouth to leave another remark but Harry took another chicken leg and shoved it at his mouth.
"I hate her treating me like I was some slave... all though in a kinky way I kind of like it," said Neville
"She's my sister you dirt bag!" yelled Ron
"Oh, sorry," said Neville
"You three are pathetic!" shouted Draco "We came here to blow off some steam from those...those...witches! And what do you do? Say lovey dubby things about them, and it's making me sick! Potter could you pass me another chicken?"
"No more chicken for you, I think they make you hyper active," said Harry
"Well we don't hear you telling us something that you hate about Luna," said Ron
"Yeah, and you cheated, you were suppose to go first," complained Neville
"Okay, you want to hear something about Lovegood? Is that what you want? Here goes," said Draco, the three leaned a little closer at him to hear him better, Draco looked like he would be having a stroke at anytime "Damn it! There's nothing bad I can say about her," said Draco punching the bench he was sitting on
"Just when we thought that you couldn't be more idiotic," said Harry
"Damn it I'm in love with her," said Draco placing his head on his knees while crying
"Hasn't it hit you that you're only in love with her because of that potion you bought from Fred and George? To tell you the truth, the darn thing only last for three days," said Harry
"So why are you still worshiping her?" asked Ron
"I don't bloody know, all I know is she makes me feel something inside me," said Draco crying
Harry looked disgusted, then suddenly he heard Ron and Neville do the same.
"Parvati I'm sorry, I'm sorry I'm so stupid to realize that I really am in love with you!" Ron shouted up to space
"Ginny (Sniff) please give me one more chance (Sniff) I'm willing to suffer anything for you (Sniff)," said Neville wiping his eyes with his hands
Although Harry didn't want to show it, he felt the same with the others with Hermione, he did really love her but now she wouldn't even let him see her, now Harry's heart sank even more lower when he thought of losing Hermione as his best friend, he promised his self not to look at her any other way but friendship but every single nerve in his body was telling him that it was so right for him to feel the way he does for her, but his mind was always there to object, his mind was always reminding him about what consequences that can happen if he and Hermione wouldn't work out the way he pictured it, and that means losing her, a fact that he couldn't bear, even just now that she wouldn't talk to him was breaking his heart, so what would happen if he never sees her again, only one thing entered his brain, losing his mind.
"That's enough you three! You're all grown men but you still cry like babies!" shouted Harry
The three stopped whimpering and wiped their tears to... err... not look gay.
"Haven't it struck your brains that nothing will ever happen if we just sit right here, eat chicken, drink Butterbeers and cry over some girls that we would die for?!" asked Harry.
"Another nice one, Potter (Sniff). Excuse me, I have something in my eye." said Draco turning around and trying hard to wipe those extra tears away.
"Then what would you (Sniff) suggest?" asked Ron
"Didn't Sirius say that the girls are going to have a sleep over tomorrow night?" asked Harry
"Yeah, Sirius sure was very careful on not telling anyone about other's secrets," said Neville sarcastically
"Well... I think I have a plan," said Harry