Chapter Two

'Hey, Harry, Ron!' The drowsy silence in the seventh year boys' dormitory was disrupted by a teen-aged girl's excited shouts. 'Guess what?'

'Merlin, Ginny!' said Ron, whose ears had turned bright red. He hastily shoved a magazine that looked distinctly inappropriate underneath his four-poster bed. 'How can you just burst in on us like that?'

'Ha, Ron, remember,' said Harry, putting a tone of mockery in his voice, 'Girls are more trustworthy than boys, Hermione said.'

'Exactly,' said Ginny, planting a kiss on Harry's lips, causing Ron to get a rather strangled look on his face. 'Now, without further interruption, I have something to tell you.'

' 'Without further interruption',' scoffed Ron. 'You'd think you two were being forced.'

'Well, I thought I smelled a bit of love potion at breakfast…' teased Harry, and Ginny giggled.

'Oh, please,' said a voice from the corner. 'You two are revolting sometimes, honestly.'

'Hermione!' Ginny exclaimed, 'You came in at just the right moment, I was about to tell them!' Hermione looked confused for a fraction of a second, but it must have been a trick of the light, for she immediately spoke in a very bright, very rehearsed- sounding voice.

'Oh, really, Ginny, really? Oh, this is so exciting!' Hermione grinned, and the two girls squealed and hugged each other.

'What are you two going on about?' Ron questioned. It was amazing how he had lived with his sister sixteen years, and he had known Hermione for seven, and yet they still managed to utterly confuse him so very often.

'Ron, haven't you heard?' Hermione asked incredulously. Her eyes grew wide; Ginny imitated her.

'Heard what?' Harry said suspiciously. He hadn't defeated the darkest wizard in a century with pure luck; he could detect a conspiracy from a mile away. Plus, it wasn't unhelpful that it was his girlfriend and best friend who were doing the hoodwinking; he prided himself in thinking that he understood them well enough by now, having known them since he was eleven.

'Well,' said Ginny, advancing on Harry and smiling mischievously, 'Picture this: You, Ron, Hermione, and I all staying in Hogsmeade for a month.'

'Sounds incredible,' said Harry. 'But how'd we get your mum to agree?'

'It's not like I'd let you two stay in the same room!' cried Ron, outraged. Ginny responded to Harry, completely ignoring Ron.

'What if it was school-sponsored?' said Ginny, noticing that she had piqued both Ron's and Harry's interests, if Ron's were unwillingly so.

'Yeah, like that'd ever happen,' Harry said, although his emerald eyes began to get an excited gleam, as they had been so many times before, although this time it was not because of impending danger of the sort caused by Dark Magic. His mind began racing into overdrive, conjuring images of himself and Ginny having frivolous snog sessions with no risk of teachers bursting in, games of Quidditch with Ron, and no more nagging about homework from Hermione. Didn't he deserve that, he thought angrily, of course he did, he had spent his summer fighting Voldemort, hadn't he? He deserved a bit of fun. A break.

'Oh, I can see it now,' Ron snorted. 'I'm sure McGonagall's up in the Great Hall right now, telling everyone how we're all just dropping school for a month.'

'Actually,' said Hermione, grinning, 'that's exactly what's happening. Now, come on, we don't want to be late, I think it's just been started.'

'What's just been started?' asked Harry to Ginny; Ron and Hermione had already sped ahead of both of them, Hermione gripping Ron's elbow.

'McGonagall's explaining it all; I think.' Ginny jumped on the banister and slid all the way down, giggling and screaming, Harry followed, though more quietly. Due to his weight, he crashed into Ginny at the bottom of the banister, and they landed on top of each other on the ground, laughing and wincing. At that moment, Dean Thomas came through the portrait hole and spotted them.

'Oh, get a room,' he said exasperatedly, with a bitter look on his face.

'Dean, you're as sour as a lemon, aren't you?' Ginny said, getting to her feet and drawing herself to her full height.

'Come on, Ginny,' said Harry, 'Let's go downstairs-' He did not want a fight with Dean, who he had always got on very well with.

'All right, fine then.' Ginny glared at Dean furiously, then clambered on out of the portrait hole. 'Just because he hasn't got a snog since I ditched him last year…' she muttered.

It was a very strange feeling they got upon entering the great hall, for the fourteen other people sitting there were all staring at them, as if they had been waiting for them for quite some time, and were rather annoyed.

'Ah, Potter, Weasley,' said Professor McGonagall, who was sitting in Professor Dumbledore's old throne-like chair with a look that plainly showed she would rather be anywhere else. 'We have been waiting for you to start.'

'Where's everyone else, Professor?' Harry asked, for he was confused. He thought that the entire school would be here, but he only saw a cluster of students sitting at the Ravenclaw dining table, all from different houses and all in the upper years. Hermione and Ron made room for himself and Ginny on the bench.

'Of course the entire school isn't participating, Potter,' said McGonagall. 'Did you read the sheet properly when you signed up?' She had a familiar, agitated look on her face, which Harry had seen many times previously.

'Signed up?' Harry was utterly confused now, and he felt Ginny edge away from him to whisper to Hermione.

Professor McGonagall sighed. 'This is the Inter-House Unity project, Harry. Did you or did you not sign up?'

'I didn't, Professor,' Harry said.

'Well, that is unfortunate,' she said, hazarding a glance at Ginny and Hermione, who grinned sheepishly. 'However, you're just going to have to sit tight while I explain what the sixteen of you will be doing for the next month.'

'A month, Professor?' whined a voice. Harry reeled- he knew that voice. But, no, it couldn't be, it just couldn't!

'Yes, a month,' said McGonagall exasperatedly. 'Malfoy, please let me continue. Everyone in the program will be staying in a large house in Hogsmeade. You will all be divided into teams of two, and you will be rooming with that person. You will compete in challenges against the other teams, one team being eliminated every four days. Eventually, there will only be one team left, and each member of that team will be rewarded with five hundred Galleons. Any questions?'

A dull silence greeted the end of her speech. Every person in the hall seemed to be weighing options. Harry thought I wouldn't have to do any schoolwork for a week, and my friends would all be with me. But then again, there was always the thought of him being paired with someone horrible…he looked over at the group of Slytherins. Draco Malfoy, Blaise Zabini, Millicent Bullstrode, and Pansy Parkinson. He would never choose to live with them for a month, that was for sure.

'Um…do we have to?' asked Pansy, her pug-like face contorting in disgust.

'Do we have to what?' said McGonagall.

'You know, the competition!' Pansy said, until Malfoy elbowed her in the ribs. 'Oh, I mean, do we have to, Professor?'

'Yes, I'm afraid you are obligated,' said McGonagall.

'Now, does anyone have any serious questions?'

'Yes, can we hear our teams?' asked Ginny, she was sitting at the edge of her seat with excitement. She grabbed Harry's hand and squeezed it, causing several people (including Michael Corner of Ravenclaw) to roll their eyes.

'Well, I thought it might be best to wait until we got to the house,' said McGonagall, but she was met with moans of protest. It was a mark of how weary she was that she dimly nodded and pulled a long sheet of paper toward her which must have the team names written on it.

'Now, on Team Red,' she began. 'There is-

A/N: Ahh! Cliffhanger! Please review, as this is my first fanfic and I want constructive criticism. Don't be afraid to criticize, I promise you won't damage my ickle thirteen year old psyche. J