Chapter 8: Gossip

The next morning, there was a huge uproar. Harry and Ron along with the rest of the boys were awakened to screams coming from the girl's dormitories. They all got up and rushed to the common room and joined a queue of boys and some girls staring up the flight of stairs, toward the girl's dormitory. A lot of "You bitch," and "You stupid slut," were being thrown back and forth from the room. To add to the uproar, there were sounds of broken glass. Everyone looked around at each other, bewildered. Finally, Parvati Patil descended the stairs. She stopped and looked around at everyone as questions were thrown her way. She brushed them all away and when she spotted Ron and Harry, she made her way toward. She stopped in front them, smirked and then waited till everyone's eyes were on her and the noise had died down, well at least downstairs.

"It's about you two, you know!" she sniggered. Harry and Ron looked at each other, and when they still looked perplexed, she added.

"It's Hermione and Ginny. They're at each other throats up there. Something about "You lost me my friends you bitch, and I will kill you, you stupid slut." She concluded with a malicious grin on her face, and walked away. She turned and went to fill everyone else in about what was going on. Ron and Harry looked at each other.

"Do you want to go stop them?" asked Harry. Ron thought for a while, and then grinned to himself.

"No, let's let them fight for a while."

For the next fifteen minutes Harry and Ron played wizards chess, and tried all the while to block out the obvious signs that something was being broken and that punches were being thrown.

"I can't take this anymore Ron," yelled Harry. Ron opened his mouth to tell him that it wasn't there fight to stop, when Harry interrupted him.

"What is everyone looking at?" asked Harry. Ron frowned over his shoulder and realized that several people were looking their way. They didn't show signs of amusement though, but rather confusion as they stared boldly at the two of them. Ron shrugged and turned his attention back to the game, but when Harry didn't take his turn, he couldn't avoid it any longer.

There was a group of third year girls huddled in a corner whispering to each other, their heads were close together. There were other pairings around the room, but these were not as obvious. People passed notes to each other very discreetly. There were silent giggles coming from every direction, and they all were pointed toward them. Harry leaned his head to the side to acknowledge Lavender as she veered from her group and came toward them. Everyone in the room watched her. She sat on Ron's right and grinned at him.

"Ginny's up there throwing some real accusations around!" she said.

"What kind of accusations," asked Ron? He felt a hand squeeze on his thigh. It was Lavender's He moved her hand, but she quickly replaced it, and squeezed again.

"She's saying that you are gay. I don't believe her though; no one does; unless it's true?" She paused at these final words, and raised her eyebrows in a mysterious way. Every conversation in the room seemed to abate. Even the noise up stairs stopped. Ron looked at her in what he hoped was a pissed off way.

"She's lying, and if you all believe her…" he looked around at the entire room, "then you can all go to hell," he yelled. He gathered his chess board and stormed off to the boy's dormitory. Lavender instead turned on Harry.

"So, she's lying," she asked?

"Yeah, she's lying!"

"Then why is Ginny yelling at Hermione for telling her in the first place," asked Lavender? Harry thought around for a good way to answer this without confirming anything. He paused too long and Lavender went on.

"So, she is right, Ron is gay?"

"No, he's not gay. Hermione thought that he was, so she started a rumor by telling Ginny and Ginny is telling everyone else… but, he's not, he added unconvincingly.

Lavender raised her eyebrows and while he wasn't looking, she nodded confirmation to Parvati, who climbed the stairs to the boy's dormitory.

"So you think that Hermione is a gossipy slut and a stuck up bitch? Well, that's what you called her in the great hall?" she asked.

"I was talking about Ginny, and yeah, she was wrong for what she did."

"Okay," called Lavender meekly. She stood up and walked back to her group.

Harry looked after her. She hadn't seemed very convinced of what he told her. He hoped that she wouldn't do anything to make the situation worse.

Up in the boy's dormitory, Parvati knocked and entered the room, to see that Ron was lying on his bed on his stomach. Tears streamed down his face and when he saw her, he wiped them away. She sat on the foot of his bed and patted him on the leg. He moved them, then sat up and looked at her.

"What the hell do you want," he demanded. She had come up to try and goad him into confirming his homosexuality, but at the sight of him crying she didn't know what to say.

"I wanted to know if you were okay?" she asked.

"Why do you care if I'm okay or not? Are you going to go tell all your little giggly friends that I'm a crybaby next?" he yelled. She felt the heat rise in her cheeks, "My giggly little friends, huh? She thought; but she did nothing, just sat there in silence.

"If it's not true, then what are you getting all worked up about?" she snapped.

"How would you feel if everyone accused you of being gay in front of the whole common room?" he snapped back. She pondered this for a while. She would probably drop out of school, or kill herself from the humiliation. She didn't tell him this though.

"Is Harry gay then?" she asked for a change of subject, it was an open opportunity after all. These were the wrong words, for he grabbed her, snatched her off the bed and threw her out the room. She landed on the floor in a heap, the only thing hurt being her gossipy ego.

"You stupid bitch! Stay out of my room!" he yelled. He slammed the door in her face. She stood up and brushed her skirt and shirt off. She caught her profile in a mirror, so she stopped and fixed her hair before she descended the stairs and crossed to her group of smiling friends.

"So, what did he say?" they all asked. She paused and looked toward Harry, who made his way upstairs.

"He's not gay, but Harry definitely is," she laughed.