Hogwarts in France
Chapter Three
Sunday
Disclaimer: Nothing you might recognise belongs to me.
Harry rolled over and opened his eyes blearily. His hand went automatically to the bedside table where he always kept his glasses. There was nothing there; in fact there wasn't even a bedside table! Harry sat up quickly and strained his eyes, looking around in the dim sunshine that was filtering through the thin curtains. Oh! He was in France in a little gite and his glasses were safely on top of his trunk. He put them on and immediately the room came into focus.
Malfoy wasn't in his bed but Neville and Ron were; still fast asleep. Ron rolled over in his sleep muttering, "Hermione, please!" Harry shook his head in amusement and his gaze landed on the big wooden clock on one of the walls. It was half past nine. He gave a shout.
"Ron! Ron! Neville! Get up! We were meant to be up and ready to go out an hour ago!"
The two boys instantly shot up and stared at Harry in alarm. There were footsteps coming up the stairs and then Ginny and Hermione entered the room.
"Finally! You're awake!" said Hermione, "We've all been up ages!"
"Hermione! Get out! I'm in my pyjamas!" shouted Ron, enraged,
"So?" Ginny said, "It's not like she's never seen them before." Her gaze settled on Harry, who was sitting on top of the duvet. They both blushed.
"Why didn't you come and wake us up?" asked Harry, "We were meant to be out an hour ago, weren't we?"
"Well, yeah," Ginny said, "But Remus decided to have a slack day today so he let you sleep in,"
The boys heaved a sigh of relief and slowly began getting out of bed.
"We'll leave you to get dressed then," Hermione said, "Breakfast's going to be cleared away in exactly half an hour, Professor McGonagall said so."
The boys nodded as the girls left and began to get ready for the day.
An hour and a half later, everybody was ready and all chores were done. The students were sitting around the table, having a briefing session from the two Professors.
"Now that we're all ready," said Professor McGonagall, with a tiny frown at the boys, "it's time to tell you what we're doing today."
Harry, Neville and Ron blushed and tried to look innocent. Malfoy, Ginny and Hermione sniggered.
Remus continued. "We've decided to have a lazy day today so we're not really going out anywhere. We need to visit the local hypermarket to buy more supplies but most of the day, we're spending here, getting used to the Muggle way of life. Firstly, we've prepared a sort of scavenger hunt for you to do in the local village."
Professor McGonagall handed out six sheets of paper and the students looked at them curiously. "You'll be in two teams and the first to find all twenty items and answer the questions about them is the winner. Is everybody clear?"
Everybody agreed and got up to put on their shoes and gather outside. They split into two teams: Harry, Ginny and Neville were on one team and Draco, Hermione and Ron were on the other. "OK then teams, lunch will be ready at one o'clock so that is your deadline when you're expected to be back. On your marks, get set, go!"
Harry's team walked slowly into the centre of the courtyard where the minibus was parked and gathered into a small circle. They looked at the papers.
"Item one: Find a Muggle public telephone," read Ginny, "What's a telephone?"
Harry didn't answer and looked around. He spotted a glass box to the left of the community centre front door. "Over here!" he said, jogging over. As he got closer he discovered that it was a public telephone. "What's the question?"
Neville looked at his sheet. "What colour is the telephone receiver?"
"Blue," Harry reported. Ginny wrote the answer down in the space provided and looked at the next question. "Item two: find a post box. What time will the post be next collected?"
"What?" Neville exclaimed.
Harry looked thoughtful. "Let's walk through the village and have a look."
The others agreed and they wandered slowly, searching and chatting. They caught sight of the other team. Hermione and Ron were walking ahead and Malfoy was trailing them, his head down.
Ginny giggled. "It's so obvious Ron and Hermione fancy one another!"
"Yeah," replied Harry, "We really ought to do something to make it happen while we're so close to the city of looooove!"
Neville smiled and turned his head. He knew of another couple that made it blatantly obvious to everybody except each other that they madly in love with one another. He hoped Harry and Ginny would get together soon because they both deserved happiness.
"Are we nearly done yet?" moaned Ronald Weasley,
"Yes, we're on item seventeen and we have fifteen minutes left," said Hermione, clearly irritated,
"What's the question?" Ron asked,
"Item seventeen: find 4 rue de pomme. What colour is the front door?" recited Hermione, "That means we're looking for…"
"Number four of apple road," said Malfoy, "It's over here."
Hermione looked at the direction in which Draco was pointing and then at Malfoy. "You're right. Thanks,"
"You needn't sound so surprised," said Malfoy, "And the colour of the front door is red,"
"Right, thank you," said Hermione, jotting it down, "So, you know French then?"
"All rich pure blood children are taught it from an early age," responded Draco,
"Yeah, along with the Dark Arts and how to kiss You-Know-Who's ass," retorted Ron, bitterly.
Draco merely looked at him and blinked. "Anyway Granger, what's the next question?"
"Item eighteen…" began Hermione, before being interrupted by Ron,
"Oh! So you finally decided to help us?" he roared.
Malfoy's cheeks went pink and his grey eyes iced over. "Yeah because you're no bloody help at the minute! Constantly moaning about how long it's going to be before lunch! All you think about is your stomach!"
"Oh yeah?" yelled back Ron, "What? Do you fancy Hermione or something?"
"No, that's your job!" screamed Draco, "Merlin! It's so obvious that you fancy her! Why don't you just ask her out or something so the rest of us don't have to take this! You make me sick!"
The loud argument had brought the other team running and they watched silently as Ron flushed violently and Hermione gasped and turned away. Ginny went and hugged her comfortingly.
Harry looked at Malfoy silently. He was still pink and looked terrifying; so great was his anger. He was breathing rather heavily and his fists were clenched. Seeing his state, Harry took control.
"OK, guys. Well it's nearly time for lunch so let's get back to the gite."
Ginny and Neville both nodded at him and they began to propel Hermione and Ron, respectively, along the empty road to the gite. Harry turned to go and then noticed Draco wasn't following.
"Malfoy, are you coming? We're not allowed to be by ourselves," he called,
"Why do you care?" Malfoy said, walking slowly towards him,
"'Cause this is a new experience for all of us and we need to watch out for one another," replied Harry,
"Potter, have you forgotten? We are enemies!" Draco said,
"Yeah and we'll still be enemies when we return to Hogwarts. I'm just thinking this week, we need to try and get on so everybody can have a good time," Harry replied.
Draco snorted.
"Come on," wheedled Harry, "You don't want a horrible holiday because you don't get on with us do you? I promise that the minute we get back to Hogwarts we'll be enemies again. Even now, we don't need to be bosom buddies…we just need to respect one another like for instance don't call us any names. Deal?"
Draco considered. "I'll think about it," he decided, "I still don't like any of you but I can see where you're coming from. If I decide to go along with it, you can tell Weasel…I mean Weasley and the others,"
"Sure," replied Harry, "Now come on, we'll be late for lunch and if I know Ron half the food will have gone!"
"Be back at the minibus in exactly one hour," instructed Professor McGonagall, "And stay in groups. Have fun!"
The six Hogwarts students meandered over to the hypermarket entrance while the two professors went to get a trolley.
"It's so big!" sad Neville, gazing around, "I've never seen a shop this big before. Even that supermarket wasn't this big!"
"Everything is meant to be cheap as well," Hermione said, "Adult Muggles come on day-trips to these hypermarkets and stock up on alcohol to take home. Unfortunately, we aren't old enough to purchase alcohol,"
"We could use an aging potion like Fred and George did," Ron said to his shoes, deliberately not looking at Hermione. Harry sighed. Lunch had been very difficult. After Malfoy's outburst, the two Gryffindors had retreated into their shells in front of one another. They had been extremely embarrassed. However, Harry thought there was a chance something might happen within the next few days. Ginny and Harry had discussed the issue quietly in the minibus on the way to the hypermarket.
"Hermione! Come over to the perfume section with me. I'd like some new perfume!" requested Ginny. She winked at Harry as the girls left.
"Chocolate!" was all Ron said, "Find chocolate!"
The four boys wandered slowly down the aisles of the hypermarket and browsed. They ignored most of the products as they were simply household food but they did find some interesting things.
"What are these?" asked Ron, an incredulous look on his face, "They look like snails but Muggles wouldn't be stupid enough to eat snails… would they?"
Harry laughed. "Yeah Ron, Muggles do eat snails and frogs legs. I've never tried either of them and I hope I don't have to!"
"Eww!" said Ron, "Muggles are strange!"
The four boys laughed and continued on their way.
"Neville," whispered Harry, in an undertone, "Can you occupy Malfoy for a bit? I want to talk to Ron in private and he won't open up if Malfoy's around!"
"Sure," said Neville, "I'll try." He moved down the aisle a bit and picked up a packet of brightly coloured sweets. "Err...Draco?" he called, "Can you come and translate this French for me? I don't know any and my Great Uncle Algie is allergic to certain food colourings,"
"Err…yeah sure…Neville," replied Malfoy, hesitantly.
Harry smiled in approval and moved forwards to stand next to Ron. "You buying presents for your family?" he asked,
"Yeah, I thought the twins might like some of these French sweets," Ron answered, "And I was thinking maybe all of us should buy some sherbet lemons for Dumbledore?"
"Yeah," agreed Harry, "Hey Ron, I wanted to talk to you about…well, about Hermione."
Ron turned to look at him; his face glowing crimson. "What…what about Hermione?" he croaked,
"Well, you really like her don't you?"
"Is it that obvious?" said Ron, with a weak smile.
Harry decided to be blunt. "Yeah, so obvious that Malfoy's picked up on it and I'm pretty certain that Remus knows about it!"
Ron swallowed audibly. "Oh no!" he moaned, "What am I going to do? I can't even look her in the face anymore after what Malfoy said!"
"Ron, I'm pretty certain that Hermione likes you too!" said Harry, forcefully,
"R…really?" asked Ron, with a blissful expression,
"Yes," confirmed Harry, "So if I were you I'd ask her out and see what she says!"
"I can't!" Ron said in alarm,
"Yes you can!" replied Harry, "And there's no better time than this week while we're in France!"
"O…ok Harry," stuttered Ron, "I'll see."
Harry smiled; satisfied he appeared to have got through with Ron. Ron smiled too as a wicked thought appeared in his mind.
"And while we're on this topic, I'd look at your own feelings about my little sister," grinned Ron, "I give you full permission to date her!"
"Ron!" said Harry, in embarrassment, "There's nothing going on between me and Ginny!"
"Whatever, mate, whatever!" said Ron, waving his hand, "Now, can we go and find some more of that drink we had on the ferry over…coke was it?"
The eight students met up again about twenty minutes later. They all had purchased something; whether it was sweets, chocolate, perfume, gifts or in Ron's case five big bottles of coca cola.
"I take it Ron likes coca cola," said Remus, his eyes twinkling, "we bought some as well for meal times so you can save yours for when we return home!"
They loaded the many bags of shopping onto the minibus and drove back to the gite. Harry and Ginny sat next to one another again and discussed their progress on getting Ron and Hermione together. When they had seen one another again, they had both blushed for unknown reasons.
"Did you talk to Hermione?" whispered Harry,
"Yeah, she does fancy him and wants to go out with him. She'll also stop nagging him as much as she possibly can! What about Ron?" replied Ginny,
"Success," grinned Harry, "With any luck, he'll ask her out within the next few days!"
"Excellent!" said Ginny, "I love all this romance!"
Harry looked at her closely. He had lied to Ron. He fancied Ginny a lot but believed that she no longer fancied him. He kicked himself daily for not realising his feelings earlier.
When they arrived back at the gite, they all quickly put their shopping away and congregated in the dining room.
"Right guys, this is a football," Remus said, brandishing a white round ball, "Muggles play with them. Does anybody know the rules?"
"I do," said Harry and Hermione, together,
"Good!" said Remus, "Well I'm sure all noticed the playing field in this village this morning on the scavenger hunt. You have two hours before it's time to cook the dinner so off you go!"
The six students ran down the stairs and along the road to the well worn grass football pitch. There was nobody there. Hermione commented on this.
"Yeah, I've noticed this village is deserted," said Ron, "Now, somebody explain how to play this football thing,"
"Well Ron," began Harry, "You know that poster in our dormitory that Dean has?"
"The one that doesn't move and has a load of men running around kicking a ball?" said Ron,
"Yes, well that's football," grinned Harry. Everybody laughed at Ron's flabbergasted face.
Hermione went on to explain the basic rules of football and they divided into the same teams as they were in that morning. Harry placed the ball in the middle of the pitch and the game began.
Ginny kicked the ball to Harry, who dribbled it up the field to the opposing goal and scored. Ginny and Neville cheered as Hermione kicked the ball to Ron.
"Over here Weasley!" yelled Draco. Ron looked up, aimed and kicked the ball towards Draco, who stopped it, swung around and kicked it straight past Neville's outstretched legs into the corner of the goal.
"Hoaray! Go Malfoy!" yelled Hermione and Ron, dancing around in glee.
Taking advantage of their distraction, Harry passed the ball to Ginny who was waiting near the goal and she neatly scored a goal.
The game continued: fast and furious.
Half an hour later, the players were beginning to tire.
"Next goal is the end," announced Harry and everybody agreed.
Neville ran with the ball towards Ron who was guarding his goal. He swung out and tackled Neville. He then passed the ball to Hermione who dribbled it towards Malfoy. Ginny intercepted the ball and kicked it back to Neville. Ron neatly tackled Neville again and set the ball towards Malfoy. Ginny and Harry ran out to seize the ball and crashed into one another. They fell to the floor amid a gale of laughter.
"Sorry Ginny!" gasped an embarrassed Harry, still lying on top of Ginny,
"S'ok Potter," Ginny replied with a cheeky smile, "You can get off me now!"
Harry gasped again and scrambled off. He searched for the ball and watched as Hermione sent it into their empty goal.
"No!" he yelled,
"Goal!" shouted Hermione, Draco and Ron, "We win!"
"Not fair!" yelled back the loosing team.
They began to argue in high spirits and eventually all flopped on the ground worn out.
"That was good," said Ron, contentedly, "Not as good as Quidditch but still good,"
"Yeah, nothing can beat Quidditch," agreed Malfoy. Ron looked over at him and appeared to make a decision,
"Yes, I agree with you Malfoy. Man, I could kill for a game of Quidditch!" said Ron,
"Maybe we'll be able to have a game at Beauxbatons," suggested Hermione, with excitement in her voice.
The boys grunted and Ginny rolled over onto her stomach. "I'm going to sunbathe," she announced, "I feel too lazy to do anything else!"
Harry chuckled. "Lazy bones!" he teased.
The six students lay there in contented silence until a noise made them look up. A small boy and girl were making their way across the grass towards them.
"Bonjour," said the little boy, "Comment vous appelez- vous?"
"Bonjour," replied Draco, "Je m'appelle Draco. Je suis de nationalité britannique. Et toi?''
"Vous parlez François!" gasped the little girl, "Je m'appelle Amandine,''
'' Je m'appelle Gaspard,'' said the little boy, "Vous en vacance?"
"Oui pour une semaine avec le professeurs. Enchante !'' said Draco, in smooth French.
Draco and the French children conversed for a little while longer until they ran off.
"They had to go in for tea," explained Draco. The others nodded and then got up in order to return to the gite to prepare their evening meal.
"Neville, watch out! The pan's boiling over!" yelled Harry, from where he was taking cutlery out of the drawer.
Neville hurriedly looked up and look the lid of the saucepan just in time. "Thanks Harry. I've had some practice at cooking but I'm not very good. It's like with potions!"
"Oh potions," Ron said, "I bet the only reason you're not good at them is because of Snape constantly breathing down your neck! Honestly, it's not really a surprise that his NEWT class is virtually empty. He's a horrible man!"
"I saw that you're not in Professor Snape's NEWT class," drawled Draco, "I'd watch who you were insulting around me. Professor Snape is my god-father."
There was silence in the kitchen for a while during which Remus walked in. Ron and Malfoy stalked out separately and Remus looked curiously at Harry.
"Ron and Malfoy were having a little disagreement," Harry said, walking over to the dining room and beginning to lay the table.
"Oh," replied Remus, brushing a hand through his greying hair.
"I talked to Malfoy earlier and I think he's agreed to cool down on the name calling and try to get along with us for this week," said Harry.
Remus smiled. "Good work. Otherwise everyone will be having a difficult time this week,"
"That's what I said," continued Harry, "Right, I'm going to prepare my wizard's chess men. We're having a tournament after dinner. It's not really fair though. Ron's fantastic. I'm not sure I've ever beaten him!"
Remus and Neville laughed as Harry bounded up the stairs.
"So, Neville, have you noticed any difference in Draco today?" Remus asked, helping to pour the pasta into the boiling water,
"Oh yeah," replied Neville, "Harry wanted to talk to Ron in private so I asked Malfoy to translate some French for me and he was really friendly and helpful. I guess when he's not around his Slytherin cronies, he's very different!"
"I agree. What was Harry talking to Ron about, may I ask?" asked Lupin, curiously, a twinkle in his eye that would rival Dumbledore's.
Neville looked at Remus and grinned. "Just about the incident earlier today," he replied, "Can you tell everyone dinner will be ready in ten minutes?"
As soon as dinner had been eaten and chores had been done, the tournament began. Four chess boards lay on the table and players sat down facing their opponent. On Professor McGonagall's whistle, the games began. The chess games would continue until either checkmate or half past ten.
An hour later, Hermione had lost to Neville and Draco had beat Ginny. The two couples left were cheered on.
"Come on Professor McGonagall! Do it for the girls!" said Hermione, "You're our only hope now!"
"Come on Ron! You can beat him!" cheered Ginny. Harry looked at her in mock outrage. "What about me?" he grumbled. She smiled cheekily back and laughed as one of Ron's pieces knocked Harry's castle out.
By ten o'clock, Professor McGonagall had checkmated Remus' king amidst loud cheering from the girls. Remus hid his face in his hands in shame, as the boys groaned.
Harry and Ron were still battling furiously but it was obvious Harry was coming off worse. Less than five moves later, Ron yelled "Checkmate!" and was declared the winner.
"OK," said Remus, "Semi finals tomorrow. Ron versus Neville and Draco versus Professor McGonagall, is that fair?"
"Yes," said the four winners and it was all settled.
"Time for bed, then," Professor McGonagall announced, "We have a busy day tomorrow,"
"Where are we going?" asked several voices.
Remus grinned. "I'm not telling but I think you'll like it. Now go to bed. I'll be up in fifteen minutes and I expect you all to be in bed!"
The six students scuttled upstairs and began brushing their teeth and getting into their night clothes. They were all talking very loudly and laughing.
The girls were already in bed by the time the boys were ready so Harry went into their room to say goodnight. It was very similar to the boy's room but about half the size with two beds and a wardrobe. It looked pretty snug Harry thought to himself.
"Ladies," he said, with a bow, "I hope you sleep well and have pleasant dreams. I bid thee goodnight."
Ginny giggled. "I thank you, kind sir and wish you pleasant dreams also."
Hermione joined in. "I too bid thee goodnight and a wonderful sleep. We shall both see you bright and early in the morn!"
Harry acknowledged his head and left, wishing he could give Ginny a goodnight kiss. Ron came out of the bathroom at that minute and looked over into the girl's bedroom. "Goodnight Ginny! Night Hermione!" he yelled, before following Harry into their room.
"Honestly," tutted Hermione, from their room. She raised her voice. "Night Ron!"
Ginny giggled. She snuggled down in her bed as she heard footsteps coming up the stairs. Professor McGonagall appeared in the doorway.
"Goodnight ladies," she said, in her Scottish accent, "I'll put a charm on your clock that will awaken you at half past seven." She did as she said and soon after, the girls heard her walking back down the stairs.
Ginny sighed and rolled over. "It's been a good day," she remarked,
"Yeah, maybe Ron might ask me out now!" Hermione said into the darkness. She heard Ginny sigh again. "You want Harry don't you?"
"Do you reckon he'll ever like me?" she asked,
"Of course," replied Hermione, "That was some pretty heavy flirting that you were doing earlier!"
"What?" said Ginny, "I haven't been flirting with Harry!"
"Whatever you say girl," said Hermione, "Well, I'm tired. See you in the morning!"
"Yeah, night," replied Ginny. She was thinking hard. Harry couldn't like me! Could he?
Translation of the French conversation between Draco and the children:
"Hello," said the little boy, "What's your name?"
"Hello," replied Draco, "My name is Draco. I am British. What about you?''
"You speak French!" gasped the little girl, "My name is Amanda,''
"My name is Jasper,'' said the little boy, "Are you on holiday?"
"Yes, for a week with our teachers. Pleased to meet you!'' said Draco, in smooth French.
Thanks to Remusluver, Liljean15690, notyouraverageblond, starvingartist, EmeraldHAzel, swimchick1614 and Curg for reviewing chapter two. Once again, I'm grateful for those seven reviewers who could be bothered to review this story that I spend a lot of time on.
Review please. Constructive criticism is gladly received.
