Chapter 11

Hermione hurried down the castle's corridors, in search of Peeves. She had to do something before it was too late, but she had no idea that it was already too late! Hermione stopped for a minute and wondered where Peeves would be. Perhaps Nearly Headless Nick would know! But then, where would Nearly Headless Nick be? Hermione pondered for a moment. She decided that her best chance would be to wander the halls aimlessly until she ran into—or rather ran through—Nearly Headless Nick. However, instead of meeting the Gryffindor ghost, she happened upon Ginny and co.

"Ginny? What's going on?" asked Hermione, watching her heave Ophelia and Juliet along.

"Well," gasped Ginny breathlessly, "Ophelia and Juliet aren't really in their right minds right now. We just witnessed Harry get killed by Madame Pomfrey!" Tears stung her eyes.

"Harry isn't dead! He's just severely injured!" replied Hermione. Colin gave a little shriek of happiness.

"He isn't? I'm so happy! Oh Ginny, did you hear what Hermione said? Harry isn't dead! Harry isn't dead! Harry isn't dead!" Colin let go of Juliet and began to dance an ungainly little dance. Miranda let go of the other side of Juliet, who fell to the ground with a loud thump, and joined Colin's dancing.

"Harry isn't dead! Harry isn't dead!" they chanted happily, and stamped their feet. Then, they shook their buttocks a few times and beat their chests like trolls.

"Oh Hermione! That's the best news I've heard in a while!" sighed Ginny. Tears of joy poured out of her eyes. She dropped Ophelia and clapped her hands in delight.

"What's wrong with these two?" questioned Hermione, prodding Juliet with her toe.

"They're kind of insane and unconscious right now, but I'm sure they'll recover once they find out that Harry isn't dead!" giggled Ginny deliriously. Her head was spinning at this new development.

"Fine, well, we better take them up to the dormitories," said Hermione calmly. She was a bit unsettled by Colin and Miranda's strange dance, but she knew that it was the effects of the love potion that was causing this. Harry would pay later!

Hermione flicked her wand, causing Ophelia and Juliet to levitate, and they floated along behind her as she, Ginny, Colin, and Miranda made their way to the fat lady's portrait. For some strange reason, the entire school appeared to be crowded around that area and singing loudly.

"What's going on?" wondered Ginny. "You don't think there's been an attack or something!"

"I don't think so," muttered Hermione dubiously, "They seem to be singing something. I can't really tell what. A lot of these people are off-tune!"

Miranda cocked her head intently.

"It sounds familiar!"

"Oh! I know what it is!" exclaimed Colin in surprise, "They're singing 'Weasley is Our King'!"

Hermione gasped in dismay.

"Oh, poor Ron! I wonder how he's handling it!" Hermione rushed headlong into the singing crowd and tried to shove her way through it, but to no avail. She was immediately pushed out again!

"Wait your turn!" scowled a Slytherin boy nastily.

"Wait my turn for what?" pondered Hermione bewildered. Suddenly, the singing became more in tune, and a path cleared in the middle of the vast mob as students scooted out of the way so that someone could walk through.

"What's going on?" inquired Miranda. In all her six years of Hogwarts, she had never seen anything like it!

"Listen to the lyrics!" cried Hermione, who was completely awestruck. The six Gryffindors cocked their ears, and tried to discern the words.

"Weasley is pretty like spring? His voice makes our hearts ping?" repeated Ginny disbelievingly. She looked like she was about to vomit!

"Weasley was born in heaven? He's our lucky number seven?" squawked Hermione with disgust. She immediately recognized the work of the love potion. Harry was soooo dead! Presently, Ron came striding down the path that had been cleared for him. He seemed to have adapted well to fame! There was a conceited, though slightly astounded, look on his face, and he kept tousling his hair. A couple of people conjured up flowers to throw into his path, and Professor Flitwick caused a little rainbow to form over Ron's head. Everyone was singing the "Weasley is Our King" song in a very reverent manner, and a band made up of an odd assortment of instruments stepped forward to play.

"Ron—" said Hermione as Ron swaggered past her. His arrogance reminded her of the time when they were in their fifth year, and Ron had performed remarkably well during a Quidditch game. Ron paused and smirked at her in a condescending sort of way.

"Yea?" he said carelessly, with a bit of smugness mixed into it. Hermione was absolutely revolted. She glared at him.

"Ron, you're being absolutely ridiculous!" admonished Hermione. Ginny just stared in shock at the monster her lowly brother had become!

"Don't be jealous now," grinned Ron. Girls swooned left and right. "If you want, which you probably do, I'll let you go on a date with me in Hogsmeade." His adoring fans gasped in dismay, and stared at Hermione like they hoped she'd be gored by a manticorn and stampeded by a hundred centaurs. Hermione's face turned extremely red.

"Not with you, you arrogant git," snapped Hermione. With a final huff, she flipped her bushy brown hair over her shoulder and with a majestic sweep of her robes, she stomped away like a rampaging skrewt. Her dramatic exit was ruined by the fact that Ophelia and Juliet were still levitating after her. Ron stared in shock while his admirers murmured in astonishment and resentment.

"What did I do wrong now? I was just trying to ask her out!" he gaped indignantly. He gestured in confusion at Hermione's retreating back, and stared appealingly in Ginny's direction. She and her friends scowled back, and with a swish of their robes, they departed as well. Ron was left staring after them, looking gormless. He self-consciously flattened his hair and waved angrily away a couple of first-year boys who were trying to put a robe and crown on him. He spun around on his heel and stormed back into the common room, still being pursued by the warbling crowd. The rainbow over his head became a storm cloud that rained mercilessly on him.

xx

The next day, which was a Monday, school resumed as normal, except now Ron had an escort that consisted of the whole school. Hermione refused to speak to him, and Harry was still in the hospital wing. Everyone sat down at the Great Hall to eat breakfast, and they all wanted to sit at the Gryffindor table, next to Ron. Hermione, Ginny, Colin, Miranda, Ophelia, and Juliet (who had both recovered from their grief after seeing Harry briefly in the Hospital Wing) were forced to sit at the Slytherin table. This was perfectly fine with them, as it was completely empty since most of the usual occupants were gathered amorously around Ron.

"Doesn't that sight just make you sick?" grumped Ginny. She regarded Ron from across the hall with slightly narrowed eyes.

"I refuse to speak about that jerk," stated Hermione with a toss of her bushy hair. She chomped with unnecessary violence into her toast. Ron appeared to be adamantly refusing to glance in Hermione's direction as well. He was chatting happily with an abominable sort of smugness on his face. Ron kept reaching up to muss his hair, and he grinned an awful grin in what he supposed was a charming smile. His worshippers collapsed all over the place, and some clutched their hearts dramatically. The teachers had managed to restrain themselves, and sat in their usual seats even though they kept sneaking glances in Ron's direction. Professor Mcgonagall stood up to make a speech.

"The faculty and I have decided that we needed a change of our school song. It has been the same one ever since this school was founded, and we think that it has become rather dull." Mcgonagall paused for a moment to flutter her eyelashes in Ron's direction. Hermione and co. turned their faces away with expressions of utmost revulsion. The Headmistress continued.

"The new song shall be 'Weasley is Our King,' and instead of singing it in the beginning of every school year, we shall sing it at the beginning of every day!" The Great Hall erupted in cheers and applause.

"Now, let us begin!" All the students stood up, except Hermione and her friends, and turned to face Ron. With their hands over their hearts, they began to vocalize in awful, off-tune voices, and joy, pride, and love shone from each and everyone's faces. Ron's ears had turned red, but he made an effort to look self-assured, and even managed to muster up a bit of a smirk. Hermione was furious.

The rest of the day passed beautifully for Ron. Girls hung off his arms as he pranced down the halls, and in every class, teachers willingly gave him Oustanding's followed by a large number of plus signs. Professor Flitwick squeaked in excitement when he called out Ron's name, and repeated it about five times just for the heck of it. Ron was a bit disgusted when Professor Slughorn kept putting his arm around him, and when Professor Mcgonagall licked her lips every time she looked at him, but other than that, his day was mostly blissful. However, Hermione sniffed and turned away every time she passed him in the corridors, and refused to even spare him one glance during the classes they had together. Ron tried to keep this from bothering him. After all, with all this popularity in his hands, what more could he wish for? Although, he did wonder why everyone suddenly seemed to be fawning over him. Ron, like the idiot he was, assumed that his superior Quidditch skills had endeared everyone to him. It was, nevertheless, disconcerting to have the whole school present and present during Quidditch practice, but with his newfound confidence, his training went remarkably well.

xx

After classes, Hermione spent the rest of the day lurking in the library. Ginny and her friends started on the shrine in the empty Gryffindor Common Room (everyone was clustered around Ron), after visiting Harry again. They started out with Harry's lurid pair of socks as a centerpiece, and pinned it to the wall. Then, they surrounded it with the many pictures of Harry that Colin possessed. Many of them were unsatisfactory, however, as they mostly showed Harry glowering out of the frame or just an arm sticking out. An empty table sat underneath the socks and pictures, and an equally empty cabinet stood by.

"I think it needs something more," remarked Ginny, stepping back. She eyed the many blanks spaces in the shrine critically.

"We need some more of Harry's stuff," stated Miranda.

"Why don't we run up to his room and grab some of his clothes?" grinned Ophelia mischievously. She seemed to like the thought a lot.

"Good idea!" smirked Juliet in an equally alarming way.

"You two aren't going without me!" cried Ginny. The five Harry-shipians stampeded up the staircase to the boys' dorms. They tumbled into Harry's vacant room, and began to rummage through his trunk.

"Oh! Look at what I found!" gushed Miranda. She held up a pair of Harry's boxers. It was green and decorated with pictures of his own face.

"Wow! Harry Potter boxers! He must have bought it at that one shop on Diagon Alley! They sell all these clothes with his picture on it!" gasped Ophelia.

"Gimme that! I want it!" cried Juliet, trying to snatch it out of Miranda's grip. Miranda held on firmly.

"I found it first!" she snarled.

"Girls! Don't fight! There's plenty more over here!" grinned Ginny. She held up three more pairs of boxers.

"A perfect addition to our shrine!" yelled Colin joyfully, "I even found a Sneakascope and his Firebolt and a couple of strands of his hairs!"

"Wonderful! Let's go down and complete our shrine right this minute!" cried Ginny exuberantly. The five fans tumbled down the stairs, exhilarated by their finds, and rushed over to their altar to fill it up with stuff! Lots and lots of stuff!

xx

In the library, Hermione plotted what to do next…
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