Woohoo!!! Im on spring break!!! :D of course, I have nothing to do for the next two weeks, which may not be a good thing as I've just watched so many tivo-ed eps of Inuyasha that im abt this close to convincing myself that im the reincarnation of a Japanese miko…but that also leaves me more time to write this J
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
After his little lecture, the next time Harry saw Ron was that night at dinner. Harry sat down near the center of the Gryffindor table across from his two best friends, sitting very close together. Although our Harry is doesn't quite have what it takes to be a brain surgeon (or does he?) he was still able to figure out what had transpired after Ron left the dormitory.
"Hem hem." Harry made his presence known in a very Umbridge-like fashion.
"Harry," Hermione blushed as she tore her eyes away from Ron. "Um, when did you get here?"
Harry chuckled to himself in response.
"Harry, Ron and I…well, we're sort of a couple now."
His laughter grew.
"Harry, please! This isn't a joke!"
He tried to speak, but only choked on his laughter, making the situation even funnier.
"Harry!"
"I…ha! No, really though," Laughter finally suppressing, "It's just…heh I had my money on your obliviousness- hey, is that a word? Anyway, I didn't think you'd end up together until at least our first year out of school. Damn, that's five gallons down the drain!"
"Five gallons?" Ron broke in.
"You've been betting money on when Ron and I would get together!?" As it turns out, making the smartest witch in their year mad was not such a brilliant idea. Luckily, Harry had figured this out long ago.
"Er, well…you see, er…it wasn't just me!" Yeah, sharing the blame, that should let him off a bit.
"Five gallons?"
"Who else was in on this little bet?"
"Er a few people."
"Five gallons?"
"Which people!?"
"Er, well you see it was…er, mostly all the Gryffindors since our third year,"
"All the Gryffindors?"
"Then there's Ron's family, his parents included, er, the DA, a few other Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs, mostly in our year, er, Malfoy and some of his Slytherin goons,"
"Malfoy!?"
"The rest of the Order, I know a few teachers were in on this…pretty sure Snape had fourth year, and the oddest part is that the last time I dreamt of Voldemort, I could have sworn I saw an official Ron/Hermione card in his hand, but there was a lot going on at the time, so I can't be certain."
"Volde- OFFICIAL CARD!?!?"
"Five gallons?"
"Hehe, er yeah. It's just a little thing that signifies that you are a part of the bet. Heh."
"And who, might I ask, distributes these cards?"
"Well, it had originally been the job of the Gryffindor Quidditch team, but then once Ron joined the team we decided to form a membership council consisting of the old team, and a few carefully selected others. Fred, George, and Lee Jordan make the cards. Angelina, Alicia, and Katie are in charge of keeping track of members, Ginny worked with them as well. Er, who am I forgetting? Oh yeah, Lavender and Pavarti handle the money, and Oliver Wood is our mascot."
"There's a mascot!?"
"Yeah, it's really odd; every time his Quidditch team wins a match, something good happens with the two of you. That's really about it. Well, dinner was great, wasn't it? I should really be going now, homework calls."
His attempt to stand up without making a scene was halted by Hermione leaping up and pointing her wand at Harry.
"Uh-unh. No. You're not leaving yet."
Harry sat down quickly as to not incur his friend's wrath.
"Hahaha! A mascot!" Despite the stroke of genius he had had earlier that day, Ron was sinking back below his average level of comprehension. Harry and Hermione, glanced at him, then decided it was best to ignore him.
"So what, might I ask was your part in all of this?"
"Er…well I was to drop hints…you know, get you two alone…stuff like that. And we all helped with the automatic distribution spell. Once everyone in the membership council finds out about you two, the money will be automatically sent to the winner. If more than one person wins, the money will be split evenly between them.
"You know, I really think I should be going now."
Neville, the unwilling source of many brilliant distractions, wasn't about to fail his friend (not that he was actually aware of what was going on…it was really more of a coincidence, but either way it helped Harry when the boy started choking on a dinner roll). Seizing the opportunity, Harry got away and ran all the way up to Gryffindor Common room where he told Lavender and Parvarti the good news before proceeding to the Owlry to write to the other members of the membership council.
That night, on the other side of the Atlantic, in a large house in America, a young girl named Mari Smith walked into her bedroom to find a rather large pile of wizarding money on her floor. At the top of the pile lay a special edition R/Hr card 'CONGRADULATIONS!! YOU ARE THE CO-WINNER OF THE RON/HERMIONE BET!!!!'
~~~~~~~~~~~
Um, this chapter was originally supposed to be a wrap-up of past events so we can get back to Mari and Jayne, but then I started getting threats from the R/Hr membership council threatening to lock me in a car for 6 hrs (with a comp that has a battery life of only 3 ½ hrs) with two people I can't stand (one of whom is convinced that my soul is condemned to hell because I no longer follow her religion…despite the fact that her husband is of another faith as well). So I figured I should write a chapter about them in order to save myself the trouble. That and the twins happened to be standing by with a large supply of ton-tongue toffee…yeesh.
Anyway, next ch will be the whole goodbye scene (I promise!!!). REVIEW!!
Lily and James Potter: maybe, or maybe not all is as it seems…mwahahahahaa *cough, hack* ahem…ummm… *evil stare*
;P