Disclaimer: I do not own any characters, places, magic or anything that you recognise from the world of Harry Potter.
007 (Chapter 11)
Helena was back. Back after two glorious weeks of freedom; away from school, away from the constant stream of schoolwork and, most importantly, away from Ari. Was Helena expecting some sort of revenge? Was she heck. After what had happened to Andy, Helena had the sense to be on her guard and tread cautiously wherever she went. As though that was going to be enough.
Aside from the fact that Ari was very good at pulling pranks on people herself, Sirius had promised to help her. There was no way Helena was going to avoid it – Ari would get revenge. It was a fact of life. Helena being on her guard would only succeed in making the plan more ingenious and she could only be on her guard for so long anyway. Sirius and Ari could strike at any time.
They decided to strike about a week after the Christmas holidays. They had seen Helena walking around shiftily, looking everywhere and anywhere, searching every nook and cranny for traps or tricks. They could see how nervous she was and how meticulously she searched, but they also saw how much time it took her. Their plan had to include something that could surprise her and draw her attention away from the other things, something that struck quickly - before she even noticed that anything was up, or something that she couldn't see.
Sirius, as usual, had plenty of ideas. Ari knew how agitated Helena was getting and loved seeing the terrified look on her face when she saw Sirius and Ari talking about something in hushed whispers. Sirius couldn't wait to pull a prank and as this one needed to be something at least slightly remarkable, he couldn't put his energies into any other pranks until this one was over.
Julian strutted along the hallway in his usual fashion, receiving the usual sniggers. He jumped slightly as Andy managed to appear in front of him, seemingly stepping out of nowhere. He regained his composure and spoke in a business like manner."So, my man, what can I be doing for you this very fine day?"
"You still like Helena?"
Julian frowned. "Sure do. Why wouldn't I? She's fit, she's –"
"Yeah, yeah whatever. – "
"No need to be rude, man."
Andy cocked an eyebrow at Julian's patheticness and resisted to urge to join in with the people who constantly sniggered at Julian's fakeness. No- one ever knew what Julian was really like, but most people suspected that he was a complete and utter prat. They were pretty much right.
"Well, I'm in a bit of a tight spot. I really want to ask Sarah Kylo out, but obviously it's sort of awkward with Helena following me around."
"And...."
"And I was wondering whether you'd ask her to go out with you again."
Julian cringed. "After what she did last time?"
Andy scowled slightly. "Look, mate - she's had a bit of time to cool off since then. I'm sure-"
Julian massaged his forehead with one hand as though he had a lot on his mind and cut across Andy. "What's it worth?"
"I'll give you five galleons if she says no and if she says yes then you've got a date." Julian grinned at Andy.
"You must want her off your back pretty bad to waste five galleons on her."
"So?" Andy asked apprehensively.
"It's a deal." The pair shook hands and went their separate ways. Julian carried on walking, singing quietly to himself as he did so and Andy disappeared into the shadows.
"Friends?" He asked Ari.
"Friends."
Sirius hid behind a gargoyle. He was crouched down and nobody seemed to notice him. Ari had said he didn't need to bother with hiding – he just had to stand dead still at the edge of the hallway and everyone would mistake him for a gargoyle anyway. With one eye he kept a lookout on the people walking in the direction of the gargoyles face, with the other eye and the use of a small mirror he kept a lookout on the people walking in the opposite direction. The timing had to be precise.
"Helena?"
"Yeah?" Helena spoke carelessly and it was obvious that she couldn't be arsed to give Julian the time of day. She looked around her, not meeting his eyes, and seemed to be thinking about something else – probably the imminent prank.
"I know what you said last time, but it's been a while and I thought, maybe, you'd like to rethink your answer."
Helena didn't reply.
"Will you go on a date with me?" Helena looked him up and down and didn't try to repress the look of utter disgust that adorned her face. She took pity on Julian and decided not to be mean. If she just said 'no' it would probably break his little heart anyway. That was enough – he'd be in for worse if he ever dared to ask again.
In the shadows Sirius took out his wand and muttered the all-important incantation.
Julian crossed his fingers as Helena opened her mouth to give him the negative answer.
"Yes." Helena clapped a hand to her mouth in shock, but it was too late. Julian had heard her answer loud and clear.
"Great." He said and gave her a quick hug. "I'll meet you in the common room at seven then." And before Helena could even protest, Julian rushed away in the opposite direction, for once forgetting his dodgy strut.
It was revenge enough. Helena had to spend a whole date in Julian's company – the incantation uttered by Sirius meant that Helena also had to keep her promise. Julian wanted to go out with Helena and she had to be nice to him for once; pissing him off at the beginning of a date when you had to stay for the whole event wasn't really a good idea.
The date was hell for Helena. Firstly, it was boring. A restaurant was a restaurant – it was the company that made the difference. Julian seemed to think that everyone was interested in the perfect way to strut and having decidedly different struts for different place, or supporting your local football team. He talked endlessly about the latter, but all of it was rather meaningless to Helena, who was a pureblood and had never heard of football.
Secondly, the 'restaurant' was more like a dead end café than a restaurant. Julian, though he had wanted a date with Helena for a long time, wasn't one to spend hoards of money on food. Sirius had once had an argument with him over the importance of eating good food and lots of it, but Julian obviously hadn't listened. Maybe that was why he had such a weedy build.
Thirdly, Julian noticed when Helena wasn't listening fully, meaning that she couldn't let her attention waver. Apart from being mean, not sharing Helena's interests and being weedy, Helena just didn't fancy him. She never had. She had never given him the time of day, but now that she'd accepted that date he'd expect her to. She tried to end it in disaster by 'accidentally' knocking a glass of red wine over him, but he didn't seem to mind.
The outcome of the night of terror was the worst thing; Helena finally got a taste of her own medicine. Speculation and rumours about the date were the main source of gossip throughout the school. Rumours about where they'd been, what they'd done (had they slept with each other?) and whether they were now an item. Most people seemed to think that they were and Julian, being Julian, wasn't about to admit that they weren't. Most people wondered why anyone would want to go out with Julian, but then again Helena was never too picky in her choice of partners.
Ari heard the rumours and saw Helena's cringing and annoyance at the whole situation. This would've been enough to satisfy her, but even funnier was the fact that Julian now talked to Helena quite often (he was sure that she fancied him) and followed her around.
A job well done. Revenge, sweet revenge.
A/N: Finally! I've finally updated! The next one shouldn't take as long, as I've now finished all of my GCSE exams – WAHOO! I know this one is not very romantic, but the revenge just ended up being long. The next chapter will be better. I have two new ideas for fanfictions, which I am dying to write, but I'll finish this one and my Sirius one first. Anyway, thank you to the following people: Jessie xxx Padfootlet
YamiClara trashcan Sugar Snap dains- numberone-fan Ti Queen Of Day Dreams Irish Anor
Twilight66 Erenriel the Elven Canuck Auntarctic(x2!) KrisKG Danz (update your fanfiction!!)
For the fabulous reviews! Everyone please review this chapter (especially those 39 of you who get Author Alerts!).
Tanya
