OK, another chapter done! I've just started boarding, and the boarding house blocks fanfiction so... yeah. updating's difficult for me. But I'll try my best, I promise!

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter!

CHAPTER SEVEN: HUG A TREE!

It was a fine summer's day at Hogwarts. There was not a cloud to be seen, and the clear blue sky seemed to be smiling sunshine upon the castle walls. The grass glowed a healthy radiant green and flower buds played peek-a-boo on the shadowless grounds, little bundles of delights waiting around every corner. To top it all off, butterflies and bees added to this perfect picture a springtime effect (though it was summer), dancing gracefully around dandelions and daisies, and the pretty little birds were chirping like mothers at a tea party. Maybe mother nature had gotten herself a boyfriend, and was in the mood for a celebration. It certainly seemed that way. Nevertheless, the point is, it was the sort of day where you'd want to go for a splash and a swim, or sit under the shade of a tree, eating an apple or two and sipping pink lemonade.

Yet what do you know, once again, Hermione Granger was sitting in the library, head stuck in a book.

Perhaps you'd roll your eyes at this, thinking to yourself, 'what a nerd', or 'how typical', but then again, you shouldn't judge a book by its cover. See, having a head stuck in a book certainly didn't mean she was studying – that was only popular belief. The book was only a shelter, it was like shutting yourself in a room and letting the rest of the world disappear – it put her in her own little world where she could do what she really wanted to do, without interruptions.

In fact, usually, when her head was stuck in a book, Hermione was doing what she did best, thinking. But not, not about spells and hexes and algebra and curses, heavens no. Hermione's favourite past time was in fact thinking about people – her friends, her enemies, and well, anyone around her that matters. She liked to wonder what people were up to, wonder what was going on in their heads, wonder what secret part of themselves they lock up from the rest of the world. She often made silent bets with herself about people, and… fate I suppose. It gave her a sense of satisfaction. Similar to that of completing a 7 foot potions essay.

Today's topic of interest rested on none other than Zoe Potter, since she was the most recent addition to Hermione's network of lead actors and actresses in her mind-theatre/soap-opera. Afterall, Harry's Potter's sister definitely deserved some headlines in anyone's thoughts, it was a blessing and a curse.

But this time, it wasn't her celebrity power which drew Hermione's thoughts to Zoe. This time, it was something else, someone else that is. Hermione chuckled. I swear, I've never seen him act so much like a doofus. She smiled as she remembered his face that day at the bookshop, it was simply priceless. Looks like someone has a little crush... but damn, it could get complicated. She frowned at the implications. Sure, it would do good for him to fall for someone as good as Zoe, and it would be amusing too, but it would be so difficult, too difficult. There were just too many barriers. She sighed. It's going to be hard. Yet …she had always believed that there was good in everyone… even in somebody as easy to hate as Malfoy…

And what would Harry say? Well Harry has Ginny. Hermione beamed. Enough said. No worries there…

And how about Ron? Well Ron

Hermione blushed.


It had been a week since Zoe first stepped foot into Hogwarts, and already, she and Ginny were inseparable. Students found it quite ironic that the sisters of the famous Potter-and-Weasley duo would form the mini Potter-and-Weasley duo, or so they were called. Personally, Zoe found the name worthy of eye-rolling, and ignored all the snickers often heard coming from the Slytherin table as she walked past it to get to breakfast each morning.

Besides, this particular morning, Zoe had much better things to look forward to besides annoying little Slytherins who hated her guts. Today was the day. Everything was going to be perfect. She felt her heart flutter with anticipation and felt her eyes searching the table for a familiar pair of eyes. They rested five seats away and on her brother, who looked cool, casual – though not at all elegant (he was sporting a fine moustache of yoghurt and cornflakes). Their eyes met and for a second they both stifled a laugh, but then agreed on showing their amusement with a twinkle in the eye instead, not very much unlike Dumbeldore's.

Meanwhile, neither Ginny or Ron were having quite as comfortable a time as their best buds. See, whilst Hermione was covering her jitters with a book, Ginny and Ron tried to fight their nervousness with acting normal, which they happened to both be incredibly bad at. The Weasleys were not good at stealth, and were definitely not born liars (except for Fred and George of course, but even they only exaggerated the truth, never lie). Ron kept spilling orange juice onto his robes, and squealing each time he felt it splash, whilst Ginny kept accidentally flinging a spoon or a fork at poor Neville who was sitting opposite her at the table. Each time she did this she would laugh shakily and apologise over and over again, going on about her strangled nerves and poor reflexes. At this point, Zoe would put her face in her hands.

All of a sudden, a cry escaped from the Slytherin table. The hall fell into a hushed silence. Five Griffindors grinned, and turned around to see what all the commotion was bout…

It was Pansy. She seemed to have a pair of tree trunks growing from her with leaves and twigs and all. There was even a nest, and a couple of bluebirds, twiddling around with glee. It was so long, it hit the wiry girl sitting across the table from her, and she couldn't turn around, in case she knocked anyone else unconscious…and why, her rather large behind had grown spikes! A nasty pink echidna hide, covered with bows and ribbons. She simply couldn't sit still. More transformations seemed to be taking place, but the great hall now had their attention focused on Goyle, who was sitting three seats away, and making much more noise.

Alas, the poor dear had flowers on his privates. A whole big bunch of buttercups sprouting from his pants – not a pretty sight. The entire female population had to cover their eyes, whilst the other half (the males, that is) fought to keep theirs open.

Crabbe was slightly luckier, in that he had no distortment of any bodypart at all. Instead, his hands somehow got magnetically attracted to his armpits, and his feet – well, they were magnetically attracted to Goyle's armpits. Got himself into a bit of a pit there, eh?

Before long, the whole of the Slytherin table was in chaos. The wildest assortment of flowers could be seen springing out of various bodyparts, whilst waterfalls spurted out from the cups on the tables and sprayed the entire table with what felt like mucus, only stickier. One would have thought the table had turned into a spectacular nature reserve, as the display was very colourful indeed, and rather pretty if you ask me, with a ravishing tropical rainforest shooting out from Flint's bottom and a pair of toucans (who used to be a pair of chubby third-years) skillfully doing the can-can on Blaise Zambini's head. The great hall was in an uproar. The other three houses were all speechless with mirth, banging their fists on the table as they fought to catch their breaths.

Personally, Zoe thought Pansy had it worst. Besides her bushy trunks, she had speech problems, too. The only words she could utter were not even words – she could only do the red Indian call which resulted in her tongue flapping like an electronic fan – it was flapping so fast it looked painful. It sounded painful too, whichever cowboy heard her calling would definitely make a run for it. And it looked like Ron had poured a slug-spew potion into her cereal by accident, thinking it was Malfoy's, as she was now spitting out slugs at an alarming rate. And, knowing Ron, Zoe wasn't too surprised to see that whilst the slugs were coming out of Pansy's mouth, they were going down Crabbe and Goyle's throat. Zoe almost felt sorry for the Slytherins.

But if Pansy had it worst, Snape was definitely a close second. His predicament was of a similar sort to that of Goyle's, with flowers growing out of his privates, except his were, alas, roses. Pretty to the eye but lethal to the skin. I'd imagine he wasn't at all impressed with the fact that Hermione (of all people) had bothered to charm the roses to be extra defensive, hence the extra thorns. To make things worse, several of the First-year Slytherins had been charmed to think themselves as hippies, and their way of thought had been confounded with so that now they thought Snape was a tree. Little to say, very soon, gleeful cries of "Hug a tree!" were heard throughout the hall, to the bewilderment of the rest of the Hogwarts population, followed by a series of blood curling shrieks, as Snape made a run for it out of the great hall. Harry looked as if Christmas had come early.

"That was too good"

Ron was rolling around on the floor, face red, though this time simply from laughing too much. Hermione looked like she didn't know whether to be extraordinarily pleased or extraordinarily sick, while Zoe simply looked satisfied. Ginny was giggling quietly to herself when it suddenly struck her.

"Hang on, what happened to Malfoy?"

Harry frowned. "Oh yeah, I didn't see anything happen to him…Ron your slug spew went to Pansy."

Ron cursed loudly. Zoe shushed him and led all five of them out of the hall, all the while giving them a murderous glare which made Ron gulp. She halted in the corridor and turned around, a look of pure Mc Gonnagall carved on her face.

"Teacher Alert, guys. Damn how many times do I have to remind ya…"

"Yeah yeah" Ron rolled his eyes. " the Invisibility factor, huh. But seriously, who else could've done it? The teachers are bound to figure it out."

"Innocent 'til proven guilty… or something like that" Harry smirked and leaned back against the wall.

Zoe nodded approvingly and turned back to Ron. "Besides, most of them are on our side." She giggled. "I dare say they fancy a prank after all those years. And who's on the Slytherin's side anyway?"

"Sirius always said him and my dad and all were charmers..."

Everyone turned around and gave Harry a sympathetic look. That was the first time he had spoken openly of his godfather since the year before. Ginny patted his shoulder.

Harry smiled. "It's ok, I'm over it. Anyway, there are better things in life to look forward to." He cracked a wicked grin. "Like our next prank."

He winked at Ginny and ran down the corridor. "Race ya to the common room, Ron."

Zoe and Ginny gave each other a boys look, and ran after them, leaving Hermione pondering in the corridor. She furrowed her brows and looked around her. I swear I heard footsteps

But the corridor was empty and the walls were bare. Only the candles flickered in the darkness. All was quiet and there was not a soul in sight. Seeing nobody there, Hermione shrugged and laughed at herself as she walked off after the others. Probably my imagination. Ron's right, I'm too much of a worry-wart...

Yet… Hermione's always right.

As the sound of her footsteps diminished up the staircase, he quietly stepped into the light, features alert as he scanned the bare scene. Gone, all gone. Emotion flashed in his eyes. I'm safe…close call, but safe. He sighed a breath of relief and dropped to the floor, lips curving into a….what was it, could it be… a smile?

Brushing some wet blonde hair out of his eyes, he felt a fresh tingle travel down his back. There, in the emptiness of the corridor, he marveled at the beauty of cold sweat against a warm body; what a sensation, what a wonderful breathtaking feeling. Suddenly, he felt happy, beyond happy. Suddenly, he felt content. Flinging his invisibility cloak against the wall, he put an arm against his leg, leaned his shoulders back, and just laughed - laughed like a madman, laughed like he was insane, laughed like a child … laughed like there was no tomorrow.


Please review! I don't have very many of them ): and i would really appreciate them, so yeah. please?

-nina