Chapter 24

"Parvati, what looks better, Strawberry Delight or Blueberry Bliss?" Lavender asked as Katie walked in the room. Lavender had been holding up two kinds of lip gloss.

"Whatever looks shinier," Parvati replied, not even looking up from her magazine. She had been lying on her stomach across her bed.

"Hey guys," Katie greeted as she walked toward her bed. She began to change into her pajamas. "Don't you know it's like 10:00PM right now?"

"Yeah, but I'm not all that tired," Lavender replied. She was seated on one of the three vanity tables that the girls had arranged way before School of Rock's arrival.

"Oh right! And I have a question for you guys. Hermione, Summer, get you're butts over here!" Katie ordered playfully. Hermione and Summer reluctantly put down their books to join Katie, Parvati and Lavender. Lavender and Hermione sat on the same vanity table's chair, while Katie and Summer sat cross legged on Parvati's bed on either side of her. Parvati remained in her exact same position.

"Summer you wouldn't believe who Hermione and Lavender and Parvati were holding hands with!" Katie squealed.

"Who?" Summer asked curiously with a grin.

"Well, Hermione was holding hands with Viktor Krum, and Parvati was holding hands with Neville, and Lavender was holding hands with Freddy!" Katie exclaimed.

"Are you serious?" Summer asked with her eyes wide open with a wider grin.

Parvati and Lavender squealed, "YES!" Hermione got the feeling that the question hadn't been directed at her so she said nothing. She just smiled broadly.

"And guess what?" Parvati said. "Neville asked me out!" The girls screeched. There were questions flying everywhere.

"And our own Freddy with a Hogwarts girlfriend!" Summer added. "That's our boy!"

Katie giggled. "So did he ask you out?" She asked Lavender.

Lavender sighed. "No, unfortunately he didn't." Then she smiled. "But there was flirting going on!"

"That's so adorable! You two would make a FAB couple!" Katie gushed. She turned her attention over to Hermione. "So did you and Viktor patch things up?"

Hermione beamed. "Yes! He said that he doesn't care about his horrid arranged wife thing. He told his parents that he had already met a wonderful English girl!"

"Aww!" Katie, Lavender and Parvati said. Summer smiled weakly and looked at the floor.

"Oh Summer! You should have seen the sight we made when we were coming back!" Parvarti reminisced.

"Oh yes! When we were all holding hands? Classic!" Lavender said.

"Really? I wish I had seen this! What happened?" Summer asked trying to hide her envy.

"Well, when we were walking back to the tower Hermione and Viktor were holding hands, then Parvati and Neville were walking behind them also holding hands, and then Lavender and Freddy were walking behind THEM holding hands," Katie retold.

"Why were you laughing so hard with the guys behind us?" Lavender asked Katie.

"Yeah! Did we look that stupid?" Hermione inquired jokingly.

Katie laughed, remembering what had happened. She recounted when Ron and Seamus were holding hands behind Lavender and Freddy and about how she held Zack and Harry's hands behind them. Then she made the girls laugh by telling them about how Seamus thought Ron was "breathtakingly beautiful" and how Zack claimed that Seamus was apparently "cheating" on him. At the end of the account, the girls howled with laughter.

A fifth year prefect came into the dormitory. Her brow was furrowed. She held her index finger over her lip while she said, "SSH!"

The girls giggled when she left. They put out the flame torches and went to their own beds. This did not prevent the girls from talking. They spoke in whispers.

"So Katie, do you like him?" Hermione whispered to Katie loud enough so the other girls could hear.

"Who?" Katie asked.

"Harry! Do you like him?" Hermione repeated.

"You're not the first person who's asked me that! And yes, I do like Harry. But as like, a best friend, you know?"

"Okay…" Hermione didn't sound all that convinced.

The boys had stayed up to talk as well in their dormitory. They left one torch on. Dean Thomas, a Gryffindor 6th year who was friends with Harry, Neville, Seamus, and Ron, had already fallen asleep.

Ron was polishing his broom on his bed, Freddy was polishing his drum sticks on Ron's bed, Neville was playing with his toad, Trevor, cross legged on his own bed, Harry was leaning against a wall. He was in the space between Ron and Neville's bed. He had one knee up and the other leg was lying on the floor. He had one arm dangling over his knee. Zack was sitting in a chair in front of Neville's bed. He was lightly strumming his acoustic guitar, which we had picked up after lessons had ended. Seamus was looking through Zack's book of CD's on Neville's bed.

"So what did you think of tonight?" Zack asked everybody.

"What part of it?" Neville asked with a smile.

"Every part! What did you think?"

"Well, let's take this one part at a time," Harry suggested. 'The room: unpredictable; the games in the room: brilliant; the walk back: hilarious; the girls: hot!" The boys chuckled and agreed with Harry.

"Yeah the walk back was pretty funny. Ron, I was kidding when we were walking back. I'm not gay, okay?" Seamus said with a grin.

Ron dropped his broom. He looked up and faked a face of horror. "I thought we really had something going on for real Seamus!"

Seamus went wide eyed. "What!"

"Dude, I'm kidding!"

Seamus, Harry, Zack, Freddy, and Neville let out a sigh of relief and laughed. They thought Ron was for real.

"Did you know Hermione and Krum are going out again?" Freddy informed.

"They are?" Zack asked, without looking up from his beloved drum guitar.

"Yup," Seamus said. "Krum told me."

"That is a downright lie!" Ron tried to hide the disgust in his voice. "Everybody knows he has an arranged marriage coming up."

"He doesn't seem to mind, then," Harry said. "He said he liked Hermione way to much to care."

"And didn't you see them kiss?" Neville questioned. "When they were playing Wizard's Chess? And then again before we got into the common room?"

"Neville! You've been seeing things," Ron finally said. Harry noticed that Ron's ears were red.

Neville lifted one of his eyebrows. "I think I know what I saw, Ron. Why would I lie?"

"Whatever, I've got to go to the bathroom. I'll be right back." Ron left the room such a speed that Harry had never seen anybody achieve by just walking.

"What's wrong with him?" Neville asked. "Why doesn't he believe that Viktor and Hermione are going out?"

The boys shrugged and went back to what they were doing. Only Harry kept his eyes narrowed in concentration.

"He likes her," Harry said, breaking three minutes of silence.

"What?" Freddy asked, not understanding Harry.

"Ron. He likes Hermione! I mean, why else would he be so upset?"

The group pondered on this. "Dude, you're right! He so has the biggest crush on her!" Zack exclaimed.

He strummed a couple of strings on his acoustic with a grin. He began to sing.

It was more than puppy love…
Oh I guess, they'll never know
How a young heart really feels…
And why I love her so!

The boys howled along with Zack.

"But I'm serious though," Harry said.

Zack grinned again. "So am I!" He continued with the song

I cry each night my tears for you
My tears are all-

Ron came into the room. "What's this songfest all about?" He asked.

Zack went back to just strumming with his guitar quietly. "Nothing," he replied innocently.

Ron noticed that the boys seemed quiet, too quiet. "What's up with all of you?"

"Ron, do you like Hermione?" Freddy asked straight out.

"Freddy! Honestly! What would make you say that?" Ron asked as he went back to polishing his broomstick.

"Well… Never mind." Freddy drummed his sticks to the rhythm of the song Zack was playing.