A Long Slow Slide

EDITED

Disclaimer: I don't own any of these characters (man, I wish…) J.K. Rowling is the wonderful creator of them, I only get to manipulate them however I want, but I get nothing from it except making them do funny things. Heh.

Notes: The title of this fic is the title of a song by the wonderful Jewel, I'm only using it, I don't get anything but enjoyment from it and the title of this chapter is a line from a song called Silver Bullet by Hawthorne Heights. They are a really good band.

Enjoy.

Luv'n'sunshine Lexi

Another huge thank you to Valedro the Beta Wonder-Child Winks

Chapter three: Being alone, just like them.

"Good afternoon, class." A withered old man stepped into the classroom, carrying a large pile of books that practically obscured the top half of his body. He had copious amounts of grey wavy hair that gave him a slight mad scientist look.

He dropped the books onto his desk and began shuffling through the papers that covered it. He picked one up and read it.

"Ah, a new student. Mr Potter, where are you?" He peered over his glasses at the class.

Harry stood up. "Here, sir."

"Ah, well, you have put a stick in the spoke of my wheel. I'll need to review my choices of partners for the history assignment. You may talk quietly among yourselves."

Harry ran his tongue bar over his teeth and saw Hermione give him a look. "Sorry, it's a bad habit, my friends in Melbourne hated it too."

"No wonder, it's bloody infuriating." Hermione shook her head.

"Well, it was either this or my lip, and I thought this was a better choice, because I can hide it if I need to for a job or something."

Hermione nodded. "How long ago did you get it done?"

"Almost four years ago," he answered, smiling at the memory.

"Your parents let you get your tongue pierced when you were thirteen?" Hermione gaped. She seemed horrified by the idea that parents would let their child do such a thing to himself.

"Let me? Who said they let me? I went on a trip for school for just over a week and I got it done just before I left, and by the time I got home, my tongue had healed and I could talk properly again. I told them I got it done last year. They didn't mind too much." He smiled mischievously.

"I thought you needed parental permission to get piercings when you're under sixteen." Hermione frowned.

Harry nodded. "My godfather came with me."

"Wow, I wish I had someone who would do things like that for me," Ron said.

"Yeah, he was pretty great."

"Was?" Hermione asked. "What happened?"

"He died in a plane crash about three years ago coming back to Melbourne from Italy."

"Oh, that's terrible," Hermione said sadly. "Do you miss him a lot?"

"All the time, he was a lot of fun. He was always doing crazy things and getting in trouble with my mum." Harry smiled reminiscently. He could remember the way Sirius would come to their house all the time and Lily would know straight away that he had done something irresponsible. Then she would somehow wrangle it out of him and berate him for it.

"How many piercings do you have?" Ron interrupted.

"Eight," Harry replied. Hermione shook her head again. "You're going to get a crick in your neck if you keep doing that," he joked. "I have my tongue, eyebrow, one earlobe, left nipple, three at the top of my left ear and one at the top of my right ear."

"Nipple?" Ron gasped, going a little pale. "Did it hurt? I could never get a piercing, I'm way too afraid of needles."

Harry rolled his eyes. "It never hurts as much as you think it will. I did all my ear piercings myself, it's easy and cheap."

Ron and Hermione looked horrified. "You're kidding," Ron said.

"No, I'm not. It really doesn't hurt that much and it's really easy." Harry shrugged.

"Ok, I have just decided that you're completely crazy," Ron said fervently.

Hermione nodded. "I like just having my ears done once."

"Mmm." Harry looked unconvinced. "I think you'd look great with your nose pierced."

Hermione blushed. "Really? Thanks, but I don't think I could ever do something like that. I don't think piercings are my thing," she said primly, straightening her school blouse. She seemed to be just about the only person in the school who actually wore her whole school uniform.

"That's what they all say. We'll make a rebel out of you yet." Harry's eyes twinkled impishly as he grinned.

"You can try all you want, I'm very happy with the way I look and I don't need fishing tackle in my face to improve it."

"Fishing tackle, eh? I must remember that; my friends in Melbourne would love it. They'll be so surprised when I tell them about you guys."

"Why's that?" Ron asked indignantly.

"Well, Hermione's basically a teachers' pet and you're obviously into sports and neither of you have multiple piercings."

"And your friends do?"

"Yeah, most more than me. Sasha has the most out of all of us; she has seventeen."

"Seventeen!" If it was possible, Ron went even paler, his freckles standing out in sharp relief. "How?"

"Her belly button; that was the first and it started her off, her nose, eight in her ears, tongue, eyebrow, lip twice, both nipples and er… a Christina piercing, as she called it," Harry stammered.

Hermione gasped and winced.

"What? What is it?" Ron asked, looking from Hermione to Harry.

"You don't want to know," Hermione said fervently. "Trust me, it's worse than the nipple."

"Worse?"

Before Hermione or Harry could say anything else, Mr Flitwick stood up and cleared his throat.

"Ok, class, I have the new list. In the interests of communication and working relationships I have based my choices on the friendships I have observed among you. I feel that you all need to learn how to get along with everyone and not just stick to the safe friendships you have developed. The decision is final and I expect there will be no complaining or switching partners. In addition to working with this person on the assignment you will be seated with them in this class for the rest of the year. Granger and Zabini, and Longbottom, Malfoy and Potter, Parkinson and Weasley…" Flitwicks tinny voice droned on.

"Oh, no," Ron muttered. "Not Pansy, she's such a bitch."

"Who's Pansy?" Harry asked.

Ron indicated a petite dark-haired girl, sitting to the left of Draco. She was very pretty with deep blue eyes and a full red-lipped mouth.

"Is she? She's gorgeous," Harry said sceptically.

"Yeah, that's her disguise; she's beautiful on the surface, but underneath she's a viper," Ron said.

"It's true. She's a gossip and a man eater," Hermione added.

"For nice people, you two sure make some damning judgments," Harry said wryly.

"Yes, it must seem that way to you, because we're only talking about people we have never gotten along with. Yes, there are some horrible people in our year but there are also some nice ones. I would rather tell you the truth about people then sugar-coat everyone."

Harry nodded slowly, playing with his tongue bar again. "You're right, I'm sorry."

"No, I understand where you're coming from. Look, Neville over there, he's a great guy." Hermione pointed to a short dark-haired guy talking to a pretty blonde-haired girl.

"And the girl he's talking to, Sophie Jones, is really nice, a little bit of an airhead but she always means well and doesn't gossip."

"Ok, I see. Oh, I think we have to move now. I'll talk to you guys at lunch." Harry got up and moved over to where Draco was sitting.

"Hey," he said.

Draco didn't bother looking up, and Harry sat down just as the paper with their assignment on it reached their desk.

They bent over it together and read through it.

Year 11 History Assignment: Research

Research a culture and compile a report that includes:

Food

Housing

Language

Religious beliefs

Other cultural habits

Working together you must also learn key phrases of the language if possible to add to the report and you must also try the foods they eat/ate.

It went on to list other finer points they needed to cover.

"Great," Draco muttered.

Harry looked up at him. "Sounds like fun," he said seriously, waiting for Draco to look up. He did, raising an eyebrow.

"I hope you're joking," he said with a sneer.

Harry laughed. "Of course I am." Jeez, what crawled up his arse and died?

"Good." Draco shot him another look. Harry shook his head.

"So, what do you think we should do?" Harry asked.

"The ancient Mayan culture," Draco answered instantly. Harry looked at him. "I'm really interested in the way they grew so big and then just fell like that. Don't you think that's interesting?" Draco looked intense.

'I didn't before,' Harry thought, watching Draco's avid face. "I've never really thought about it," he said aloud.

Draco shook his head. "Well, you will now. We're definitely researching them."

"Oh, are we now? What if I had a better idea?"

"But you don't," Draco said firmly. Harry let it go.

"Fine, we'll do the Mayans."

Draco smiled; seemingly genuine for once. "Good, I'll go tell Flitwick, he wanted us to tell him when we'd made a choice." He turned and made his way to the front of the room.

"I'm going to the canteen, do either of you want anything?" Ron asked, standing up. It was lunchtime, and they were sitting under a tree near the basketball courts.

"No, thanks," Hermione muttered, engrossed in some book or other.

"Yeah, could you get me some Doritos?" Harry asked, handing Ron the money.

"Sure." Ron walked away.

"So, Harry, why did you move here?" Hermione asked casually.

"Why does anyone move? Change of scenery," Harry answered cheekily. "But I miss Melbourne terribly, especially my friends. Have you always lived here?" he asked in an attempt to distract her.

"Yes, all my life, and my parents have too. Sometimes it seems very small and out of the way, but I mostly love it. How do you like it so far?" Hermione closed her book and leant forward eagerly. He could tell that Hermione sensed there was more to his reluctance but was glad she didn't push it

"It's seems all right. Very quiet, that will take some getting used to. But everyone seems very friendly. It's strange in shops when sales assistants are so helpful and friendly, you hardly ever get that in Melbourne." He laughed ruefully.

"Really? That's terrible. I think customer service is really important. I can't stand it when people are rude to me in a shop; no matter how great their stock is, I never want to go back. So it's their loss in the end." She shrugged.

"Yeah, I know what you mean. Well, I gotta go to the toilet, I'll be back in a minute." Harry stood up, dusted off his pants, and wandered off. Hermione stared thoughtfully after him.

"You aren't reading!" Hermione started at the sound of Ron's voice. "Wow, this is a moment to go down in history."

Hermione glared in mock anger at her friend. "Oh, shut up, you illiterate fool," she reprimanded him. Then she grinned. "I was talking to Harry. I can't read and talk to him at the same time."

"But you wish you could, don't you?" Ron laughed and dodged, as she took a swing at him.

"Anything interesting happen on your trip to the canteen?"

"Oh, yeah, I got transported back in time to when the dinosaurs ruled the Earth. It was brilliant," Ron said sarcastically, contrasted by the sweet smile that tugged at the corners of his mouth.

Hermione giggled. "Sounds like it."

"Did you get my chips?" Hermione looked up at the sound of Harry's voice.

"Yeah, here you are." Ron held out the packet.

"Thanks." Harry took it. "What have you two been talking about?"

"Oh, just my trip back to the time of the dinosaurs," Ron answered, straight-faced.

"What?" Harry asked, confused, looking from Ron to Hermione.

Hermione burst out laughing.