Frog: I dedicate this chapter to my wonderful friends (SNAKE, The Landing Girls, Madam Moose, the Waffs, etc), and to WKGS's Class of 2000. It's the end of an era, but the memories will never die. Love you all xxx
Chapter 8"…But really. Look at the way his hair flops so delicately onto his smooth and creamy forehead…And have you noticed how he positively GLISTENS with the sweat of anticipation when I come near to him?"
The surrounding Gryffindors groaned as Tom, yet again, ranted on about Neville.
"His eyes do that little darting thing, like he's nervous…It's so damn CUTE, I just wanna jump on him…"
"…Ew…" Em muttered under her breath.
Tom turned to Spid. "And his cheeks! They're so rosy and round, like shining red apples in the sunshine…I can't believe he doesn't even use blusher on them…"
Spid's head collided with the table as she muffled a frustrated scream.
Hermione glanced around and stood up. "Come on – you've all finished breakfast…" She paused at the sound of a cough coming from Ron's direction, and scowled at him before continuing. "If I remember correctly, the majority of you have homework to finish, and you have a whole weekend free of Quidditch matches and Hogsmeade visits to complete it in. Let's go."
As the Gryffindor Nine (as a few of their classmates had begun referring to them) left the Great Hall that morning, Ron slouching and grumbling to no-one in particular about a "domineering woman, bloody obsessed with homework…", three of the group hung back, and walked in a tight-knit trio a few metres behind their friends.
Harry glanced ahead of him, before half-turning to the two girls beside him and raising his eyebrows. "Well, you two? You woke me up at 7am on a Saturday morning to tell me that you 'had a plan', and you'd 'tell me later'…So tell me."
Emmie and Jamie grinned, and bowed their heads closer to Harry's.
"Let's just say, dear Hazza…It has a little something to do with a certain couple of bickering people…" Em whispered.
"…A certain couple of bickering people who are obviously hiding deeper, more affectionate feelings than those shown on the outside…" Jamie continued, also in whisper.
Harry's eyebrows disappeared into his hairline. "You have a plan to get them together, then?"
"Well…" The two girls looked at each other. Jamie nodded slowly. "Kind of…You see, we both woke up early this morning…"
Em coughed. "Correction, Jimjam. YOU woke up early this morning, and threw a pillow at the nearest person, to wake them up so that you wouldn't be bored."
Jamie's cheeks flushed as she grinned a little. "Well…yeah…But something productive and truly brilliant came out of it, do you agree?"
"Yes, I agree." Em turned her attention back to Harry. "As Jamie said, we both woke up early this morning – one way or another – and, in our boredom, we got thinking…"
"And that's never a good thing…" Harry muttered under his breath, instantly receiving fierce glares from both girls. "Okay, okay, I'm sorry. Continue."
Jamie's grin returned. "Well, Potter…Let's just say it has a little something to do with another recent, slightly – ahem – larger plan of ours…"
The two girls watched in satisfaction as realisation dawned upon their friend, and his face cracked into a smile.
"Genius…" he whispered, shooting another glance up the corridor at the rest of their friends.
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The 'Gryffindor Nine' were all stretched out by the side of the lake, with various homework assignments scattered around on the grass.
Nu frowned and sat up, disregarding her Potions homework. Em, Katy and Jamie looked up from their own homework, and Hermione from her reading.
"Nu? What's up?" Katy asked, ripping a blade of grass to shreds. Nu waved her hand vaguely, and strained her eyes, staring at something across the lake.
Em turned and looked in the same direction, seeking out the cause of the distraction.
"In the tree…" she heard Nu mutter softly. As she focused on the trees, Em caught sight of something moving.
"What is that?" Hermione asked no-one in particular.
"It's people…" Katy said as she, too, strained her eyes to see.
Em caught sight of a flash of platinum blonde hair, and two faces were briefly visible through the leaves of the tree. She gave a giggle. "Liss and Malfoy…" At these words, the rest of the group looked up, and concentrated on the trees across the lake.
"What are they doing up a tree?" Spid asked, laughing slightly. After a few seconds, Ron pointed to a point just below Liss and Malfoy's hiding place.
"There's Slytherins under that tree. Maybe Malferret didn't want them to see him with a Gryffindor?" Hermione shot a surprised look at Ron as his logical side made a rare appearance, and immediately his ears reddened, and he lowered his eyes back to his homework.
A small gasp was suddenly heard from Nu, and all heads turned to her. "That's…brilliant…" she muttered, her eyes still on the tree. Her friends paused and waited for her to continue, and when she didn't, Katy threw a handful of grass over Nu's head. Hissing and flailing her arms to get rid of the grass, Nu turned to face her friends.
"What's brilliant?" Jamie asked, attempting to hold in sniggers at the sight of the grass-covered girl.
Nu nodded bluntly towards the tree. "Hiding in a tree," she said simply. As her friends continued to stare at her blankly, she sighed. "You'll see. You'll see…" She returned to her homework, now looking deep in thought.
Spid shrugged, and glanced across at the tree once more. Picking up a rock, she narrowed her eyes. "Reckon I could knock him out of the tree from here?" Harry and Ron sniggered at how quickly she had joined them in their hate of the self-named 'Slytherin King'.
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That afternoon, the Gryffindor Nine discovered the twisted workings of Nu's mind.
As the group continued to trick Hermione into thinking that they were actually doing their homework, Nuala kept watch for whatever would trigger the first part of her 'Masterplan', as she had dubbed it. Sure enough, halfway into the afternoon, the girl jumped up, startling her friends, and hurried away, muttering that she would "be back soon…"
Not even Hermione could resist her curiosity, and the eight 6th year's watched as Nu scrambled up a large tree, and stayed hidden in the leaves.
A loud choking sound suddenly erupted from Ron, who pointed to the left of Nuala's tree, and choked out through laughter "Snape…walking that way…"
"Oh god…" Tom groaned, trying to hold back a laugh. "What's she going to do to him?"
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A/N – Frog: We're sorry! I know our updates are few and far between lately…But, on the plus side – our GCSEs are over. We "graduated" from compulsory education yesterday…With a presentation ceremony of our Records of Acheivement, and a buffet, to mark the official end of Year 11. So, our exams are over, we survived them…which, along with the sudden decrease in pressure upon us, also has the added bonus of us having a lot more free time on our hands. And an 8 and a half week summer ahead of us, to perhaps pick up the threads of this fanfic again, properly.
I know this is only a short update…and probably not up to standards, but right now, it's all we can manage. I'm going away tomorrow, to a summer school for a week (which I'm looking forward to, it sounds like fun), and then the week after that me, Nu and Katy are all going down to London to stay with my sister. Oh, and a special Harry-Potter-related topic here – we're gonna be at a Waterstones queue party in Oxford Street, London, on the night of the launch of Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince. If anyone goes there, perhaps we'll bump into each other? grins
Anyway. We shall be back, sometime this summer. With a lengthier update, hopefully. And all will be revealed about the various plans our characters are creating P Take care, all of you – and here's a toast to the 6th Harry Potter book being launched. I have no doubt that it'll hold the same excellent standard as the first five.
Much love…
Frog (posting), Wombat, Fish, Wiggs, Spid, Toady – the S.T xxx