Disclaimer: Harry Potter is from the creative genius that is J.K. Rowling.
We are not her. This is merely a fanfiction to tide us over until Book 6.
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The fire in the hearth in the Gryffindor common room crackled merrily as a handful of students sat doing homework and talking. There weren't many left awake, but a lucky few were able to witness the entrance of Ron and Hermione walking into the room hand-in-hand. The slight scent of something burnt followed them in.
Laughing, Hermione was trying to pat down her hair. "I don't believe that my hair almost caught on fire," she giggled.
"I guess that's what happens when the two people in the room imagine fireworks at the same time," said Ron his ears turning a slight tinge of pink. "The whole room gets filled with the bloody things."
"Not the WHOLE room, Ron," Hermione teased.
Ron's eyes nearly fell out of their sockets as he began to stutter, "I swear I didn't . . . I wasn't —"
"I believe you, Ron," Hermione said putting a hand on his shoulder and giving him a kiss on the cheek. "I'm off to bed now. Pleasant dreams."
"If they are of you, they will be," he said smugly as he gave her a kiss on the lips and watched as she literally skipped up the stairway to the girls dormitory.
With a smile that was plastered on his face, perhaps permanently, Ron sat down at the table where Harry, Neville, and Alaire sat working on potions homework.
"I take it that went well," Harry said smiling.
"Bloody brilliantly."
"So you and Hermione aren't going to deny that you are a couple anymore, right?" Alaire asked.
Ron just continued to grin and nodded.
"So, what did she mean fireworks weren't the only thing in the room?" Alaire said curiously.
Ron turned red. "I swear, it wasn't my doing. I didn't think of anything else but Hermione and fireworks when she kissed me."
"That didn't answer my question."
Harry interrupted. "There's a room here that will kind of read your mind and decorate itself the way you want or, rather, the way it thinks you should have it."
"You have to be careful with that room. Bloody room. Not a place to take a bird on a date."
"Ron!"
"Itwasabed," Ron said really fast.
Harry started coughing as his best friend turned red. Neville choked on the pumpkin juice that he had just taken a drink of while Alaire just shook her head.
"Hmmm. Well, maybe Hermione was imagining that," Alaire said.
This caused Ron's jaw to drop, and he began to open and close his mouth like a fish.
"She ...that's...Ah, no!"
Alaire just shrugged, while Ron sputtered on for a bit.
"So we're not going to have to listen to your rows anymore?" Neville asked hopefully.
Ron wasn't even listening. The goofy grin had returned to his face as he was leaned back in his chair with his arms behind his head.
Seamus came over and waved a hand in front of Ron's face. It didn't even phase him. "He's bloody well gone. If I didn't think Hermione would have hexed him 20 ways from tomorrow, I would think they shagged by the expression on his face," he said.
"Please," Harry said holding his hand up. "I do not want that mental image."
"Speaking of mental images," Seamus said licking his lips as he looked at Alaire. "What lovely American movie are we looking forward to this week? Same sort of thing as the last one?"
"I realize your sick, twisted mind resides in the gutter, but no. McGonagall turned down one of my movie suggestions for being inappropriate. So we'll be watching my second choice."
"And that is?"
"Grease."
"I've heard of that one," Harry said.
"Oy! No more food movies!" exclaimed Ron whom Alaire pointedly ignored.
"Pretty tame, if you ask me," said Seamus. "What was the movie McGonagall turned down?"
"Rocky Horror Picture Show." Now Seamus started coughing. "Don't tell me you actually had the stones to ask that old bird to let us see that movie!"
"I did. It's a cult classic you know and totally appropriate for the Halloween season. We watched it every year back in New Orleans.," Alaire said crossing her arms. Neville and Harry were clueless as to what was so bad about the film. "There are midnight showings all over and people come out in costumes to watch it. I guess Britain's just too stuffy."
"I've been to a show, thank you very much, but I had to sneak out of my house to see it. So you're telling me that your parents saw you dressed up like Magenta and let you out of the house. " Seamus said skeptically. "Though I must say I would like very much to see some members of the house dressed up or undressed like that."
His eyes wandered over to the remaining females in the room. Alaire glared at him unappreciatively when he looked at her.
"What's that movie about anyway?" Neville asked confused. "Growing up in the wizard world, I think I missed out on it."
"I've never heard of it either," Harry said.
"Fine. I'll tell you two, but only if you'll both go to Hogsmeade with me tomorrow."
"Both of us?" Neville asked a bit nervously.
"Yes."
"What do you have to do in Hogsmeade?" asked Harry concernedly.
"I need some potion ingredients and I heard there's a greenhouse there, too. I thought you two were tutoring me. Plus, I need some winter robes before I freeze to death."
"She needs someone to hold her purse for her," snickered Seamus. Alaire, Harry and Neville shot him nasty glares. Ron simply continued to stare out in space with an insipid smile on his face.
"All right we'll go," Harry said. "Don't know about shopping, though."
"Sure, I guess. I'd love to go to the greenhouse," Neville said before nervously asking, "I really don't have to hold your purse, do I?"
"Fine," huffed Alaire gathering up her books. "Don't come. I'll find someone else to go with me. I'm sure my cousin, Vinnie, would be more than happy to go with me. Maybe, he can introduce me to a cute Slytherin who won't mind watching me try on some new lingerie!"
"No!" the boys chorused together then gave each other odd looks.
"I'll be happy to go with you, Alaire. I need a new winter jumper from Madame Malkin's myself," commented Neville. "I forgot my old one and I don't want to write Gram about it," he added sheepishly.
"I'll go, too," Harry added with a nod. "I need new socks."
"Ooohkay." Alaire looked from one boy to another sensing the budding jealousy between them. "But just to be fair, Harry, you can hold my purse on the way to Hogsmeade and, Neville, you can hold it on the way back."
She gave them the sweetest, most sarcastic smile she could. "By the way, Rocky Horror Picture Show . . . the movie's about sweet transvestites from transsexual Transylvania." Neville and Harry's jaws dropped to the table as they watched Alaire make her way up the stairs to the girls' dormitory. Only after a few moments of shock were they able to form sentences.
"Was she joking?" Harry asked turning to Seamus.
"No, mate, she wasn't."
"Ha, ha. I get it! Holding her purse and transvestites . . . Ha, ha!" Ron had woken from his stupor long enough to laugh at his roommates. It only earned him a thorough pummeling from them.
Alaire stomped up the stairs. What was it with men and shopping anyway? She had half a mind to really try on some lingerie and make them suffer. She continued to rant to herself about it until she heard someone calling her name from up the stairs.
"Alaire," Ginny Weasley said motioning for the older girl to come over to her.
"What is it, Gin?"
"You have got to see Hermione. If I didn't know better I'd swear she has been inhaling some illegal potions down in the dungeons by the smile on her face."
"Speaking of the dungeons, how is peroxide boy anyway?"
"He's fine. Out of his mind, but fine," she huffed as she led Alaire up the head girl's staircase.
"What he'd do?"
"He wants me to go to the Halloween Ball dressed as Lady Godiva."
Alaire emitted a choked laugh. "You'd be naked."
"I'd be wearing a flesh colored body suit."
"What would he be?"
"He wants to be the horse."
"Lady Godiva's horse?" she asked amused. "Yes, I told him that it would be appropriate since most people think of him as an ass!"
"That'd certainly be interesting," Alaire said with a laugh as Ginny opened the door to Hermione's room.
Inside Hermione Granger sat on her bed staring out into space with a large grin on her face. She almost seemed to be glowing with happiness. Alaire shook her head when she saw her.
"Ron has the same look plastered on his face, as well."
"Come on, Hermione, spill it," Ginny said nudging the head girl. "What happened?"
"Ron told me he loved me," she sighed whole-heartedly. "Big news flash there. I told you that years ago," Ginny teased. "Then he kissed me or I kissed him. It doesn't matter anymore," she sighed. "Ron loves me."
Ginny rolled her eyes, while Alaire supressed a giggle. "Where and when did this all happen?" Ginny asked smiling.
"He took me to the Room of Requirements to study tonight," she sighed. "He said it was to study. I think he meant it too. You should have seen the room. It was perfect to study, except for the exercise mat on the floor. I distracted him halfway through and I guess for some reason our Yoga lesson slipped into his mind. Honestly, it's not as if I don't know he followed me to class."
"My brother's thick you know."
"You don't think Ron told anyone else about the class, do you?" Hermione worried.
"Please," Alaire said. "I think if Ron had told anyone all the boys would have been in the stairs outside the room. Surely, we would have heard or seen them. It nots like they're a quiet bunch, more like a herd of buffalo on speed."
"She's right," Ginny said nodding. "I'm pretty sure we would have heard Seamus combust sometime during the exercises."
"Anyway, we studied for awhile and then we got into another row. Then this banner shows up proclaiming his love for me. I'm not sure if he meant to do that or not and then he kissed me!" Hermione said excitedly as she fell back happily.
"So I take it you and Ron are going to Hogsmeade," Alaire said, lightly amused at the dazed and starry-eyed Hermione.
"Yes," she sighed.
Ginny just rolled her eyes. "And who are you going with Alaire?"
"Neville and Harry."
"Both of them?" Ginny asked amazed.
"Why not?"
"This is going to be interesting," Ginny said smiling.
The fire in the hearth in the Gryffindor common room crackled merrily as a handful of students sat doing homework and talking. There weren't many left awake, but a lucky few were able to witness the entrance of Ron and Hermione walking into the room hand-in-hand. The slight scent of something burnt followed them in.
Laughing, Hermione was trying to pat down her hair. "I don't believe that my hair almost caught on fire," she giggled.
"I guess that's what happens when the two people in the room imagine fireworks at the same time," said Ron his ears turning a slight tinge of pink. "The whole room gets filled with the bloody things."
"Not the WHOLE room, Ron," Hermione teased.
Ron's eyes nearly fell out of their sockets as he began to stutter, "I swear I didn't . . . I wasn't —"
"I believe you, Ron," Hermione said putting a hand on his shoulder and giving him a kiss on the cheek. "I'm off to bed now. Pleasant dreams."
"If they are of you, they will be," he said smugly as he gave her a kiss on the lips and watched as she literally skipped up the stairway to the girls dormitory.
With a smile that was plastered on his face, perhaps permanently, Ron sat down at the table where Harry, Neville, and Alaire sat working on potions homework.
"I take it that went well," Harry said smiling.
"Bloody brilliantly."
"So you and Hermione aren't going to deny that you are a couple anymore, right?" Alaire asked.
Ron just continued to grin and nodded.
"So, what did she mean fireworks weren't the only thing in the room?" Alaire said curiously.
Ron turned red. "I swear, it wasn't my doing. I didn't think of anything else but Hermione and fireworks when she kissed me."
"That didn't answer my question."
Harry interrupted. "There's a room here that will kind of read your mind and decorate itself the way you want or, rather, the way it thinks you should have it."
"You have to be careful with that room. Bloody room. Not a place to take a bird on a date."
"Ron!"
"Itwasabed," Ron said really fast.
Harry started coughing as his best friend turned red. Neville choked on the pumpkin juice that he had just taken a drink of while Alaire just shook her head.
"Hmmm. Well, maybe Hermione was imagining that," Alaire said.
This caused Ron's jaw to drop, and he began to open and close his mouth like a fish.
"She ...that's...Ah, no!"
Alaire just shrugged, while Ron sputtered on for a bit.
"So we're not going to have to listen to your rows anymore?" Neville asked hopefully.
Ron wasn't even listening. The goofy grin had returned to his face as he was leaned back in his chair with his arms behind his head.
Seamus came over and waved a hand in front of Ron's face. It didn't even phase him. "He's bloody well gone. If I didn't think Hermione would have hexed him 20 ways from tomorrow, I would think they shagged by the expression on his face," he said.
"Please," Harry said holding his hand up. "I do not want that mental image."
"Speaking of mental images," Seamus said licking his lips as he looked at Alaire. "What lovely American movie are we looking forward to this week? Same sort of thing as the last one?"
"I realize your sick, twisted mind resides in the gutter, but no. McGonagall turned down one of my movie suggestions for being inappropriate. So we'll be watching my second choice."
"And that is?"
"Grease."
"I've heard of that one," Harry said.
"Oy! No more food movies!" exclaimed Ron whom Alaire pointedly ignored.
"Pretty tame, if you ask me," said Seamus. "What was the movie McGonagall turned down?"
"Rocky Horror Picture Show." Now Seamus started coughing. "Don't tell me you actually had the stones to ask that old bird to let us see that movie!"
"I did. It's a cult classic you know and totally appropriate for the Halloween season. We watched it every year back in New Orleans.," Alaire said crossing her arms. Neville and Harry were clueless as to what was so bad about the film. "There are midnight showings all over and people come out in costumes to watch it. I guess Britain's just too stuffy."
"I've been to a show, thank you very much, but I had to sneak out of my house to see it. So you're telling me that your parents saw you dressed up like Magenta and let you out of the house. " Seamus said skeptically. "Though I must say I would like very much to see some members of the house dressed up or undressed like that."
His eyes wandered over to the remaining females in the room. Alaire glared at him unappreciatively when he looked at her.
"What's that movie about anyway?" Neville asked confused. "Growing up in the wizard world, I think I missed out on it."
"I've never heard of it either," Harry said.
"Fine. I'll tell you two, but only if you'll both go to Hogsmeade with me tomorrow."
"Both of us?" Neville asked a bit nervously.
"Yes."
"What do you have to do in Hogsmeade?" asked Harry concernedly.
"I need some potion ingredients and I heard there's a greenhouse there, too. I thought you two were tutoring me. Plus, I need some winter robes before I freeze to death."
"She needs someone to hold her purse for her," snickered Seamus. Alaire, Harry and Neville shot him nasty glares. Ron simply continued to stare out in space with an insipid smile on his face.
"All right we'll go," Harry said. "Don't know about shopping, though."
"Sure, I guess. I'd love to go to the greenhouse," Neville said before nervously asking, "I really don't have to hold your purse, do I?"
"Fine," huffed Alaire gathering up her books. "Don't come. I'll find someone else to go with me. I'm sure my cousin, Vinnie, would be more than happy to go with me. Maybe, he can introduce me to a cute Slytherin who won't mind watching me try on some new lingerie!"
"No!" the boys chorused together then gave each other odd looks.
"I'll be happy to go with you, Alaire. I need a new winter jumper from Madame Malkin's myself," commented Neville. "I forgot my old one and I don't want to write Gram about it," he added sheepishly.
"I'll go, too," Harry added with a nod. "I need new socks."
"Ooohkay." Alaire looked from one boy to another sensing the budding jealousy between them. "But just to be fair, Harry, you can hold my purse on the way to Hogsmeade and, Neville, you can hold it on the way back."
She gave them the sweetest, most sarcastic smile she could. "By the way, Rocky Horror Picture Show . . . the movie's about sweet transvestites from transsexual Transylvania." Neville and Harry's jaws dropped to the table as they watched Alaire make her way up the stairs to the girls' dormitory. Only after a few moments of shock were they able to form sentences.
"Was she joking?" Harry asked turning to Seamus.
"No, mate, she wasn't."
"Ha, ha. I get it! Holding her purse and transvestites . . . Ha, ha!" Ron had woken from his stupor long enough to laugh at his roommates. It only earned him a thorough pummeling from them.
Alaire stomped up the stairs. What was it with men and shopping anyway? She had half a mind to really try on some lingerie and make them suffer. She continued to rant to herself about it until she heard someone calling her name from up the stairs.
"Alaire," Ginny Weasley said motioning for the older girl to come over to her.
"What is it, Gin?"
"You have got to see Hermione. If I didn't know better I'd swear she has been inhaling some illegal potions down in the dungeons by the smile on her face."
"Speaking of the dungeons, how is peroxide boy anyway?"
"He's fine. Out of his mind, but fine," she huffed as she led Alaire up the head girl's staircase.
"What he'd do?"
"He wants me to go to the Halloween Ball dressed as Lady Godiva."
Alaire emitted a choked laugh. "You'd be naked."
"I'd be wearing a flesh colored body suit."
"What would he be?"
"He wants to be the horse."
"Lady Godiva's horse?" she asked amused. "Yes, I told him that it would be appropriate since most people think of him as an ass!"
"That'd certainly be interesting," Alaire said with a laugh as Ginny opened the door to Hermione's room.
Inside Hermione Granger sat on her bed staring out into space with a large grin on her face. She almost seemed to be glowing with happiness. Alaire shook her head when she saw her.
"Ron has the same look plastered on his face, as well."
"Come on, Hermione, spill it," Ginny said nudging the head girl. "What happened?"
"Ron told me he loved me," she sighed whole-heartedly. "Big news flash there. I told you that years ago," Ginny teased. "Then he kissed me or I kissed him. It doesn't matter anymore," she sighed. "Ron loves me."
Ginny rolled her eyes, while Alaire supressed a giggle. "Where and when did this all happen?" Ginny asked smiling.
"He took me to the Room of Requirements to study tonight," she sighed. "He said it was to study. I think he meant it too. You should have seen the room. It was perfect to study, except for the exercise mat on the floor. I distracted him halfway through and I guess for some reason our Yoga lesson slipped into his mind. Honestly, it's not as if I don't know he followed me to class."
"My brother's thick you know."
"You don't think Ron told anyone else about the class, do you?" Hermione worried.
"Please," Alaire said. "I think if Ron had told anyone all the boys would have been in the stairs outside the room. Surely, we would have heard or seen them. It nots like they're a quiet bunch, more like a herd of buffalo on speed."
"She's right," Ginny said nodding. "I'm pretty sure we would have heard Seamus combust sometime during the exercises."
"Anyway, we studied for awhile and then we got into another row. Then this banner shows up proclaiming his love for me. I'm not sure if he meant to do that or not and then he kissed me!" Hermione said excitedly as she fell back happily.
"So I take it you and Ron are going to Hogsmeade," Alaire said, lightly amused at the dazed and starry-eyed Hermione.
"Yes," she sighed.
Ginny just rolled her eyes. "And who are you going with Alaire?"
"Neville and Harry."
"Both of them?" Ginny asked amazed.
"Why not?"
"This is going to be interesting," Ginny said smiling.