"Hey, Potter!" Harry looked up as Draco sat down next to him in DADA, "Why is Looney wearing a 'Team Harry' button? Are you organizing a loser fan club, or is this her own insane idea?"
Harry opened his mouth and then stopped, as he tried to figure out which of the two options was better.
"Oy, Potter, think with your mouth closed. Or you'll end up sucking up a fly" Goyle added helpfully.
"You would know about that" smirked Draco.
"Hey, Goyle's a growing boy. He can use the extra protein," Crabbe chipped in, patting Greg's stomach. Goyle tried to swat him in the head, but Crabbe ducked away and giggled.
"Oh, is that what you were doing in the bathroom, getting extra protein?" Goyle muttered with a dark scowl.
Vincent's face froze and he spun on his heels. He quickly took an empty seat at the other side of the room.
"What was that?" asked Terry.
"Nothing. I ain't saying nothing" Goyle replied with a mulish look.
"Come on, spill, man!" Draco wheedled.
"Students, please take your seats" Moody snapped, as he stomped into the room. "Today, we will be talking about the mental framework required to throw off the Imperius." He dropped a stack of parchments on his desk - last week's homework. "Just as the curse is powered by contempt, the the best defense against it is self confidence.
"I don't mean confidence in how good of a student you are or in your skills, but a deep conviction that what you WANT to do MUST be done, and by you. If you vacillate or think 'maybe I can do it later', or 'somebody else can take care of that for me', then you are doomed. So I want you to find something that you have utter conviction about, and concentrate on doing it. Granger, you have an orderly mind, lets see how you do."
Hermione stood up and and concentrated for a moment. Then she nodded when she was ready.
"Imperio. Now dance."
Hermione started to do the fox-trot.
"Hmmph. like I thought," Moody snorted. "Mr Malfoy, you're next."
One after the other, the students all were Imperio'd.
The only one who managed to throw of the Imperio was Goyle.
"Potter, lets see what you can do"
Harry stood up 'I will make it through the tournament alive' He nodded.
"Imperio. Dance."
He danced.
'I will punish the Dursleys' Harry thought desperately. Harry was used to being shown up, but being shown up by Goyle, of all people, was humiliating. He kept dancing. As his feet moved against his volition, his frustration and anger surged 'I Hate this! I'm not going to be pushed around and told what to do anymore!'
He stopped dancing
Class ran late, so all the students had to grab their bags and quickly run to the next class. But Harry hung back. As Goyle was exiting, he asked him, "So, how did you break the Imperio?"
"Uhm.." Goyle turned beet red, "I.. uh decided I would ask the girl that I like to the Yule ball." Goyle shrugged awkwardly, and then tried to change the subject, "How did you beat it?"
Harry stared at Goyle before shaking his head in bemusement, "Nothing so extreme. I just got fed up with being pushed around. I'll see you in class."
*zero*zero*
"Since you are still not fully recovered from your adventure with the dragon, we're just going to go over katas today" Professor Loew rumbled.
"Can we do falls instead?" Harry asked. The roll he had done over the Dragon's tail had really worked great. Falls in general were easy for him. With his agility, it was easy to twist himself into the right position to bounce off the floor without harm.
"I'm sorry, Harry I can't oblige. Katas have a lot of little pieces, which if you master them, will help with the rest of your technique. Also, Ron hasn't had as much time practicing the katas, so he needs the extra time at it.
Ron nodded agreement. The two boys were dressed in gis, and were in the usual 'dojo classroom' Ron had started a little after Harry, but the reason that Harry was so far ahead of innate talent. Even though Ron practiced when he could, Harry's reflexes were just better, and he only had to be shown a move once in order to be able to duplicate it.
"Don't worry, we'll go back to practicing attacks and sparing in a few days."
Harry sighed and got into a ready stance.
"Step"
"Loosen up the arms. And don't reach. If you are too far away, you'll get him after you step in."
"Step"
"Sink down. Lower"
*zero*zero*
That evening, the SPEW team gathered in an empty corridor. Collin and Hannah were both wearing all black gym clothes, while both Lavender and Parvati had opted for their most stylish formal robes (apparently they wanted to look their best when freeing the House Elves from durance vile). Harry came dressed as Harry - he hadn't gotten the memo.
"According to my notes, the kitchen entrance is behind this painting. You just have to tickle the fruit. Colin, you have you're camera?" Parvati asked, adjusting her designer robes, just in case she was caught on camera.
While his putative girlfriend breathlessly organized the 'trip to the kitchen', as Harry thought of it, he leaned over towards Hannah Abbot "About the wood carving? It's from Gregory Goyle. "
"The Slytherin?" Hannah asked, a hint of disdain in her voice.
"Uh, yeah. He's been working on it for like, weeks." Harry figured Goyle could use all the help he could get. He just wasn't certain why he cared.
"Hum."
"There it goes!" Parvati called out as the painting squirmed and took the shape of a green door. "Quick, Everybody in!" The intrepid freedom fighters darted through the door into a vast kitchen. Dozens of house elves were cleaning and scrubbing. Many were singing or humming, though none appeared to be able to carry a tune. The noise was overwhelming.
The five students staggered to a stop. An elf popped over to them, "Oh, you is not supposed to be here. The kitchen is off limits to Hogwarts students." The elf staggered back, blinded, as Colin photographed it.
"We're here to liberate you!" pronounced Lavender.
"But… But we don't want cloths" replied the confused elf, "besides, you are not our master, so you CAN'T give us clothes, so there!" The other elves continued with their work, oblivious to the intruders in their midst.
"But you're already clothed." replied a confused Hannah.
"No, we is NOT!' retorted the angry elf.
"We don't want to give you clothes," retorted Parvati, "We just want to set you free" Lavender meanwhile had a considering look on her face, like she was trying to figure out what color would look good with the elf's pasty complexion. Apparently she hadn't quite outgrown playing 'dress up' Or perhaps she had just updated it to the teenage version of the game..
"Out!" the elf conjured a broom from thin air.
"At least you should get payed for your work" called out Hannah plaintively.
Whack! The broom hit Lavender on the bottom, "We is having work to do. Out!"
Smack
Flash! Collin took a photograph of the angry elf as he broomed Hannah on the head.
Repeated blows from the broom intermingled with flashes from the camera as the teens were swept up into a heap and pushed out of the kitchen.
The teens sprawled in a pile as the kitchen door slammed shut.
"Well, I never!" huffed Hannah, picking herself up.
Parvati dusted off her clothes, looking distraught. "There is butter on this! I don't know if a Scourgify will take it out!"
Colin glanced at his camera. "That was interesting" he beamed.
*zero*zero*
It was friday morning when Neville sat down next to Harry at breakfast. "The Yule ball is next week. You got your dress robes?"
"Oh, shoot. No. Maybe I should ask Parvati to help me get some at Hogsmead."
"You can't ask your date!" interrupted Luna, who had appeared as if out of nowhere. "That would be totally inappropriate. It would be against the Exeter Accords!" She continued, horrified. "You will have to ask Neville. Yes. He's a stolid sort." She gave a decisive, very un-Luna-like nod.
"I don't know anything about clothes!" protested Neville, "Gran does all my clothes shopping for me!"
Luna sighed, "very well. I guess there is no alternative. I'll take you shopping."
Harry glanced at Luna in horror. This was the girl who wore mismatched… everything. who made jewelry out of radishes and bottle caps. And she was going to offer him fashion advice?
Seeing his look, Luna added quickly, "Oh, don't worry, I'm not going to go on some all day orgy of girl shopping. We'll shop like a guy: We'll dart in, find the robes you want, defeat them in fair combat and dart back out. It won't take more than an hour, I promise. And if it does, I'll buy you ice cream."
Harry wasn't certain what to say. But Luna usually had that effect on people. "Ok. I guess."
Luna beamed "Great! It's a da.. a plan" she corrected herself quickly.
*zero*zero*
"Since we only have one more class until winter break, we are going to do something a little different today - we are going to look at Gematria." Professor Loew gently sat on the front of the teachers desk in the Foreign Runes classroom. It creaked but did not collapse, "Gematria is a tool used by Hebrew mages to link unrelated concepts together. It works best in Hebrew, but since none of you are knowledgeable in that language, we will use use a modified version that works with the roman alphabet."
"The idea in Gematria is that one adds up the numerical value of the letters of a word, and finds another word with the same numerical value. Then, by incorporating one word into your spell, you can more easilly affect the other. Aternately, you can use that number into your spell, so that the spell affect both concepts.
"Since roman letters don't have an intrinsic numerical value, the power of Gematria is greatly reduced, but it is still useful in spell creation."
"For instance, "Reparo" has the value of 276, the same as plate or clothes. Which is why that spell is most effective on those two items. "
"Or if you want to transmute Cedric into some sort of animal (usually a very difficult spell to cast on an sentient creature) you would have an easier time with transforming him into a cat, since both his name and cat have a value of 104"
"In hebrew, the Gematria is powerful enough to act as its own spell. For instance," professor Loew held up a cup of wine "nichnas yayin sod" He then walked over to Cedric.
"I will whisper a word to you - a 'secret' and then you will take a sip of this wine and repeat that 'secret' to the class." Professor Loew Leaned in and said something quietly to the teen.
Cedric nodded in agreement. He took a sip and then opened his mouth. Nothing happened. He tried again. "I can't say it!" he looked surprised. He tried saying a few other words. All came out fine except one.
Professor Loew nodded, "The phrase I pronounced linked the concept of wine and secret. The effect will wear off in a couple of hours, once you have metabolized the wine."
"Professor, if Hebrew is so useful in magic, why are most of our spells in Latin?" Cedric asked
"The problem with Hebrew is that it is TOO easy to link ideas together. Jewish kabbalists spend their whole lives finding and studying these connections. but for daily spell casting, most wizards find it easier to use latin - it's more controlled. And since it is a dead language, the definitions are set and not going to change over the years. Five points to Hufflepuff for a good question"
"Class, please turn to the first page of your hand out - it has the tables for the commonly accepted values for roman letters." There are three systems listed: from there, the professor went into the various merits of each system. Harry happily scribbled notes. You never knew when some piece of knowledge might save your ass from being toasted by a dragon. Especially in Professor Loew's class.
*zero*zero*
"I am pleasantly surprised with how much Mr Potter has improved this semester. First there was his remarkable performance in the first task, and now his charms and transfiguration are improving markedly." Dumbledore beamed at the other professors gathered in his office for a weekly faculty meeting.
Flitwick nodded, "I don't know what Adam did, but Harry is now performing at grade level. His motions are smooth and precise, and we are just going over the material from this year, to make sure that he is solid on it. Next semester, he could stop with the tutoring except that with this Triwizard business, I want to tutor him in some advanced material."
"Are you certain that is absolutely fair?" McGonagall asked, her lips compressed.
"I am not going to provide him any material dealing specifically with the tasks, but I will cover some spells that the other contestants all know. Partly in the name of leveling the playing field, but also to help Harry avoid injury - the Tournament IS geared for more advanced students."
"I agree with Filius" Albus nodded. "And Harry should also continue on with Adam's physical exercise regimen, as that seems to be at the heart of Harry's wonderful improvements. Now, before we go on to the meat of the meeting, so to speak, are there any other issue with particular students?"
Old man Moody hurrumphed, "Is there any way we can lure that Hermione Granger girl back to Hogwarts? She is a true prodigy, and it would be a shame for Britain to lose a witch of her caliber."
Dumbledore quirked an eyebrow at his old friend, "I don't think where our graduates live really depends on which school they attend, but from my conversations with miss Granger, she intends to return to Britain after she completes her schooling. Now, on to the next order of business."
*zero*zero*
Harry finished his breakfast and took a look at his watch, 'Do I really want to do this?' Harry was supposed to meet up with Luna for their 'guy-style' shopping trip. On the one hand, Harry wasn't shy about admitting that he needed help. On the other, it was Luna. 'Well, she's a girl - she probably not going to be ready for another half hour. I'll just sneak back to the dorms' As Harry stood up, Luna skipped into view. She was wearing a yellow sun dress, and had a parchment wadded up in her left hand. She was dressed remarkably normally. If it had been summer, instead of mid winter, that is.
"Are you ready to go? Great! let's go!" She blurted, not letting Harry say a word. She was much more high energy today than her usual moon-child self. She grabbed Harry's hand as if to pull him along, but immediately let go, glancing at a corner of her badly wrinkled parchment.
"Um, ok" Harry grabbed his winter cloak from the back of the chair as he followed Luna out of the great hall. He felt like he was being dragged along in her undertow.
They walked out the main gate. Well, Harry walked. Luna was skipping along along like a girl half her age, "So, how about them Chuddley Cannons?" she asked brightly.
"You mean, why do they stink?" Harry asked puzzled. It was a unseasonably warm day, but most of the other students they passed were dressed in warm robes and some wore overcoats. More than a few cast puzzled glances at Luna.
"Well, that's probably because they don't bathe. You know how jocks are - they need a personal trainer just to tell them what to eat. I mean are they good this year?"
"No, I meant that they suc.." Harry stopped himself. He didn't want to hear how Luna would misinterpret that - it would scar him mentally, "They are playing poorly this year. Just like last year and every other year in recorded history." Harry paused, "and of course they need a personal trainer to help them stay fit. If they aren't fit, they won't win games"
"Girls know what to eat and what not to eat to stay skinny without needing a personal trainer." Luna responded amiably, "and if the personal trainer is supposed to make them fit so that they can win games, yet they keep losing, maybe they should fire their personal trainer."
"Maybe they should fire the whole team, burn the clubhouse to the ground and start from scratch." Harry replied, "I didn't know you were interested in quidditch"
"I'm not, but I wanted to start a conversation about something that YOU enjoy. After all, the point of today is to have fun, so that shopping will no longer seem like such a traumatic experience."
"Ooh-kay" Harry smiled, bemused.
As the pair walked into Hogsmead, Luna glanced quickly at her parchment, "Ok, business first! let's go find you Gladrags Wizardwear." Luna again consulted her parchment, straightening out a section that appeared to have a tiny map sketched on it. "This way!"
They soon entered a clothing shop. It had a wild array of clothes, from the sedate to the neon red. "Uhm, which of these are the dress robes?" asked Harry.
"Beats me," shrugged Luna, "I have no fashion sense. Ask anybody." As Harry opened his mouth to ask the obvious question, she called out "Pardon me!" as she flagged down a passing sales person, "we are looking some men's dress robes."
The young bald man led them to small back section of the store, near the mens dressing rooms.
"How come if you have no fashion sense.." began Harry as he browsed through the selection.
"It's not that I don't have fashion sense," replied Luna defensively, "it's just fashion makes no sense. Why wear clothing that is uncomfortable, tight in all the wrong places, when you can wear something comfortable. That's just makes sense."
"Wearing that," Harry pointed to Luna's sun dress, "makes sense?"
"YES! It's bright and cheerful, as opposed to 'fashionable' clothing, which usually comes in some shade of black or possibly grey."
"But it's winter, and that's a summer dress!"
"Exactly!" beamed Luna, "what better time to wear it?"
"I think… I understand. Which scares me," Harry replied. Usually when he was talking to girls, he spent half his time trying to figure out what the right thing to say was. But with Luna, he gave up. half of what she said made no sense, so he figured as long as his replies kept scoring above 50% on the sanity meter, he was doing better than she was, so it was all good.
It was actually kind of fun.
"Uhm, how about this one?" he held up a set of dress robes that matched his two criteria - they would fit him and they would fit his budget.
"Hmm. I like them! very cheerful and friendly." Luna took the robes from Harry's hand and tossed them back on the rack, "That means that they won't do. Look for something snarlier, like what your friend Malfoy wears"
Harry lost track of how long they were looking at cloths, as Luna made witty or silly comments about every piece of clothing, finally, as they were reaching the end of the rack, they were left with two pieces that Luna had not discarded out of hand. "So, which one?"
"Hold them up for me to take a closer look." Harry held up one in each hand. "Hmmm - this one radiates kindness, but this one matches your eyes…" Luna stood with her right hand rubbing her chin while her left supported it by the elbow. "Oh, I have no clue. Sales Person! Where is he? Did a Blibbering Humdingers eat him? Oh, sales person. Here sales person, sales person, sales person…" she chanted singsong.
"Yes, miss?" the bald salesman appeared, with a long suffering sigh.
"Which of these two is more fashionable? We are looking for dress robe that would be appropriate to go to the Yule Ball in."
"Well, the green one is more stylish, but honestly, neither one have been hot sellers this year. This one over here, and this one as well, are very much in vogue" He pulled out two robes that they had discarded earlier. Luna took the two robes from Harry's hands and draped them over the sales person before taking one of the ones he had indicated at seeming random, "This will do! Thank you so much!"
Sigh. "Very well. And would miss like to try on some matching robes while she is here?"
Harry blanched, "Oh, I'm not going to the Yule ball with her!"
The sales person quirked an eyebrow and gave him a puzzled look. "Very well. I will ring this up. come this way."
'He thought we were dating!' As Harry paid, he glanced around to see if there were any other patrons in the store who might be under a similar impression. Especially fellow Hogwarts students.
Harry picked up his parcel and started haltingly, "Uhm, I'm going to go to the quidditch shop. I figure you're going to want to head back to Hogwarts, I'll be seeing…"
"Oh, Look at the time!" Luna interrupted, "Your Wrackspurts must have made me lose all track of time." She leaned in and added conspiratorially "You should have the colony that is nesting in your head taken care, you know, before they do permanent damage to your mind." Luna grabbed Harry's hand and pulled him along "Come on! There is not time to waste!"
"What? Where are we going?" Harry replied, completely lost. He held on tight to his package as Luna pulled him through the people strolling the shopping district.
"I promised that if it took longer than an hour to buy you your robes, that I would treat you to an ice cream."
"You don't have to."
Luna stopped and whirled to face Harry, for the first time looking annoyed, "Are you saying I don't have to keep my word?" Her voice had dropped an octave. "Is that what you are saying?"
"Um, no, I didn't mean that" Harry staggered back.
"Good. Come on, then!" she skipped away. Harry followed, He wasn't certain what had just happened, but he didn't want to hurt Luna's feelings.
As Luna led the way towards The Three Broomsticks, a light snow began to fall. Luna carefully crossed to the other side of the street when passing in front of Madam Puddifoot's Tea Shop.
As they entered the the eatery, Luna again consulted her now almost destroyed parchment, "For the ice cream, I was thinking of of screaming cherry for me and a chocolate swamp for you, right?"
"That would be great! I love chocolate ice cream."
Harry took a booth as far away from the other students as he possibly could while Luna placed her order. The Three Broomsticks was packed with Hogwarts students, but they were all in cliques that were chatting animatedly, completely oblivious to everybody else. He felt vaguely guilty about all the work that Luna was doing - first helping him shop, then ordering (and paying for) ice cream. But he wasn't certain what to do about it.
When Luna sat down with their ice creams, he commented, "You know, you haven't been as, you know, scattered today as you usually are." 'Oh, god that came out wrong. She's going to kill me.'
Luna's shoulders hunched up and she dug at her ice cream for a bit, "After my mom passed away, dad got a little,.. I don't know" she shrugged again. Her shoulders were almost up to her ears. There was a long pause as Luna searched for words. She finally finished with "I'm too young to be the responsible one in the family."
"Well, I don't have that problem. My aunt and uncle certainly don't think I'm responsible at all. They treat me like a particularly stupid House Elf. I try to avoid being at home as much as possible."
"It doesn't really sound like much of a home."
"I guess not." Harry dug his spoon into his bowl of bubbling brown sludge and ate some of the ice cream, "This is good. Thank you. It's really sad, but Hogwarts feels more like a home."
"And the students as a family. That explains Draco - he's the idiot brother."
"Hey, Draco's my friend."
Luna froze and quickly consulted her parchment. "So.. how is your martial arts training with Professor Loew coming?"
"Great. It's a lot of fun, and I get to beat up on Ron - he's taking the class with me" Harry barely managed to restrain his glee. It was rare that he was better at something than his peers.
They chatted amiably, with Luna steering the conversation to 'safe' topics with many glances to her parchment.
As the two teens finished their ice cream, Luna crumpled up her parchment and tossed it into the trash. "we should probably get going."
"Aren't you afraid somebody will read all your secret plans" asked Harry with a smirk.
"No, I wrote it in gobbledygook…" Luna's eyes got big, "I mean, it's not anything like that - it's just some notes on conversations starters, because, you know, I'm not very good at that sort of thing. I tend to say what's on my mind, and that annoys people or makes them think I'm crazy. That would have been bad, very, very bad. Though usually I don't mind - it keeps the boring people from talking to me."
Harry smiled and nodded. He wasn't certain what Luna was babbling about, but it was amusing watching her. He swirled on his cloak and held the door for Luna. As they stepped out into the swirling snow, Luna gave a sudden shiver "It's cold out!"
"Um, yes. It's WINTER. So nice of you to notice" Harry replied acidly.
"Yes, well, my warming charm has worn off" Luna pointed to her sun dress.
"So cast another one." Harry sighed.
"Hello? Do you see any pockets?" Luna gestured at her dress, "Where do you expect me keep my wand?"
"You don't have it with you?" Somehow, that did not surprise Harry. "I can cast a warming charm, but it's not going to be powerful enough to do anything in this weather."
"No, I left it back in my room, but you can search around for it if you wish." Luna held her arms up at her sides and thrust out her chest while closing her eyes.
"No, that's ok. So what are you going to do? You could buy a cloak, I guess."
"No pocket, so no money. Sun dress remember?" Luna's face lit up ""I know, I'll share your cloak!" she darted in under Harry's cloak, pressing in close.
Harry froze. While he had gotten somewhat inured to Luna's brand of Luna-cy, this was.. this was.. Actually, it was kind of nice. He glance to the left and to the right, but with the increasing snow, people were huddled inside their robes and not looking around. He pulled up his hood 'Nobody will recognize me' he rationalized.
The two teens made their way back to Hogwarts. As they came within sight of the main entrance, Luna stepped away, "I think my heating charm has a little life left in it" She smiled happily at Harry,
And they entered as they had left, walking separately.
*zero*zero*
The next three days were a zoo. The students were all done with classes, so all that was left was getting ready for the Yule ball. It seemed like all the girls were clustered together, gossiping. Harry tried to spend time with Parvati, but she was busy with orchestrating her wardrobe.
"Harry, a boy shouldn't see the girl's dress before the dance. Don't worry - it will be stunning" she shooed him off.
And he kept running into Luna, who was handing out 'Team Harry' buttons to anybody who didn't flee. Which was incredibly awkward, as he didn't know how to act around her now, so whenever he saw her he quickly left the room. As a result, he spent much of the time hiding out in his dorm.
On Christmas day, the day of the Yule ball, Harry was hanging out in his dorm. His classmates had spent the morning looking through their gifts before going down for brunch. But Harry, as usual, got nothing, so he saw no point in getting out of bed before lunch time. He grabbed a book on Arithromancy and got a start on next semester's reading.
"Oye, Potter, you seen the Daily Prophet?" Draco asked, lounging against the post of Harry's bed. Harry wasn't certain why he had given Draco the password for the Ravenclaw Common room. He also wasn't certain when Draco and his his goon-in-chief (Goyle) had shown up. Draco held up the newspaper in question.
"No. What about it?" Harry asked timidly. He still remembered First year, when that stupid paper kept running articles about him ALL YEAR LONG.
"You little buddy, Colin Creepy, got a photo on the front page." Draco tossed the paper to Harry.
"He's not my buddy. He just hangs around SPEW, so I can't avoid him." Harry protested as he picked up the paper.
"House Elves Assault Students" screamed the headline. The subtitle said "should they all be given Clothes?" The photo for the article was of a House Elf wielding a broom preparing to attack the SPEW members. "Oh, this is from when Parvati tried to raid the kitchen."
"You know how to raid the kitchen?" Goyle perked up. That boy liked his food, and it showed.
"Yeah, There's a secret entrance, but the elves get really upset if you go in there. Like in the photo."
"Oh."
"You ready for the dance?" Draco interrupted nervously.
"Yeah. I bought a set of formal robes." he waved off to one side, where the article of clothing was draped.
"Is that what Looney recommended?" smirked Draco
"No, I got advice from the salesman." Harry said disdainfully.
"Good call, Potter, or you would be wearing a green dress with purple polka dots or something equally stupid."
"Probably. She has horrible taste." smiled Harry remembering Luna's antics. 'The funny thing is she knows it.'
Draco picked up the newspaper and straightened it back up before putting it under his arm. Goyle sat down on Terry's bed. The three boys were the only one currently up in the dorm area. All the other fourth year Ravenclaws were jittering down in the common room.
"Where's Crabbe?' asked Harry, to change the subject.
"He's been avoiding us for the last couple of days. says he has to make up some work. But I figure he's trying desperately to find some girl dumb enough to go with him to the ball. At least Goyle was smart enough not to bother trying."
Goyle smiled nervously and shrugged.
"Anyway, I should go get my new Armani robes. The Ball starts in a couple of hours." Draco sauntered out. Goyle staggered up as well. As he lumbered out, he paused and turned back to Harry. "Good choice on the robes - I'm wearing the same ones."
*zero*zero*
As the students lined up to enter the great hall, which had been transformed by the elves into a ballroom, Harry waited nervously for Parvati. At least he saw that about half the guys were wearing the same sort of dress robes as him, so that was a relief.
He saw Neville go by, chatting nervously with Susan Bones. Neville waived but didn't stop.
Still no Parvati.
More students swept by, all looking at their best. The girls especially looked scarily mature. But what really surprised him was Goyle, He walked up to Harry with Hannah Abbot on his arm, looking almost like a gentlemen. "Hey, Harry. Parvati's not here yet?" he asked.
"No, she's late" Harry sighed in exasperation.
"Don't worry, she's probably just trying to look her best for you." consoled Hannah.
"Yeah. She probably just a little slow cause she's nervous." added Goyle. Hannah smiled and patted his arm. "Anyway good luck. I'll see ya'" Goyle walked towards Nott, to show off Hannah. He studiously ignored Draco's stunned look.
"Oh, there you are!" Parvati swept in, dressed in an elegant ball gown.
Harry's brain froze. 'She's stunning.'
"Come on, They're just opening the doors!" Parvati took Harry's arm and drew him along, waving to Lavender. They swept into the ball room, and were quickly ushered up onto the stage by some ministry flunky. The young red haired man proceeds to introduce the Triwizard champions and their dates.
Harry isn't certain what the pompous wind bag actually said: He was too nervous thinking about having to dance. His stomach was tied in knots and his hands were clammy. He had trouble concentrating on what he was looking at, so he just nodded and grimaced as Parvati led the two of them past cluster of her friends.
He had to DANCE. HE had to dance. In front of the whole freaking SCHOOL! Parvati didn't seem worried. She was practically bouncing with energy. Finally, Windbag (or whatever his name was - Harry vaguely felt that he knew who he was, but he currently couldn't get his gray matter to produce anything more than fearful gibbering), stopped talking and The Weird Sisters started playing.
Harry swallowed reflexively and stepped down to the dance floor.
*zero*zero*
Harry poured himself a glass of punch 'Thank god that's over'. The opening dance had been horrible. He had stumbled though it, trailing Parvati. The three other champions had made it seem easy. 'Maybe I should have taken dance classes instead of Martial Arts classes' Harry glanced up at where Parvati was chatting with Lavender and her sister, 'At least she doesn't seem annoyed with me.'
Fleur had come with Roger Davis, and Cedric was with Cho (of course), while Krum had managed to dance remarkably well with some girl from Beauxbatons.
"Go, mingle" Harry Looked up. Professor Loew was standing next to the drink table, making sure nobody (like, say the twins) messed with the punch.
"Um. ok. And, um, Merry Christmas, professor."
"Thank you, Harry, but I am Jewish" Adam rumbled with a smile.
Harry looked around for any of his friends, but they all had girls with them, and didn't look like they wanted company. Except Crabbe - he had come stag, as promised, but without Draco they had nothing in common, and the Malfoy heir was fawning over Pansy Parkinson, the pug-nosed Slytherin girl who laughed too loudly. Harry walked over to Parvati's clique. "Hey, there."
"Hi, Harry. Pull up a chair" Parvati replied with a smile before turning back to Lavender, " So anyway the shoes arrived at the last moment. I mean the last possible moment - the delivery owl swooped in just as I was starting to pull my hair out.." she continued. Harry listened for a while. He glanced at the other girls. Lavender appeared to be listening raptly. Padma had zoned out and was writing runes on her napkin.
'I wonder if Luna is here?' Harry immediately felt guilty for the thought, but that didn't stop him from taking a look around. Luna was nowhere to be seen, but Hermione was in a similar pose to Padma, listening to Fleur.
Harry shrugged and made his way over to that corner of the room.
"Hey, having fun?"
Hermione looked up from her book, and her face became a little less severe. "Actually, yes." she patted a chair next to her, "come take a seat."
Harry shrugged and looked around. Nobody was paying any attention to him, so he sat down, "so, are we friends?"
Hermione sighed, "Yes, we're friends. But I am still disappointed about how you acted."
"I.. " A dozen excuses spun through Harry's mind, and they were at the tip of his tongue, but he bit them off 'Actions will speak louder than words.' "Are you certain you're having fun? All you are doing is reading." he replied.
"I LIKE reading. And I like reading with my friends." She gestured towards Fleur, who gushing over some other girls dress, "having the conversations flow around me is very soothing. Speaking of reading, have you found anything on the Squeaky People?"
"Umm, No" Harry looked down at his feet, "I've been kind of distracted."
"Yes, I can imagine dating Parvati can be distracting" Hermione replied primly, "But you need to get to work on figuring the egg out: it's your life on the line."
"I, know! I know" Harry looked around and lowered his voice, conscious that he was attracting odd looks, "I'll work on it over break. Are you going to be here for the Hols?"
"No, I'm portkeying straight to my parents house after the dance."
"I thought you had to take the train to get to and from Hogwarts"
Hermione rolled her eyes, "Thats only for students enrolled at Hogwarts. I'm a Beauxbatons student. It's a silly tradition. Hogwarts is full of them."
"Hey, it gives the school character."
"Yeah, whatever. Just don't slack off, ok?"
Harry stood up and looked over at Parvati. She obviously hadn't noticed that he was not around, 'some date this is' ."Yeah, maybe I'll start now." He walked off. Hermione gave him a look for his display of peevishness, then with a shrug pulled out her book and went back to reading.
*zero*zero*
As Harry stalked off through the corridors of Hogwarts, his annoyance grew to full blown anger. Parvati hadn't acted in any way different than usual, so he wasn't certain why he was so angry with her, but he was.
Harry walked into the Ravenclaws common room. It was empty, as all the students still at the school were down at the dance. 'Maybe I should go to the Gryf's common room and leave a little 'present' for Parvati.' He stalked back out.
At the portrait guarding the door to the Gryffindor common room, though, he was stumped.
"I can't let you in without the password, dear" The Fat Lady reminded him. Harry stopped and leaned against the wall opposite the portrait. 'I could Confundo her, but I'm not certain I can that spell right on the first try.' Harry mused. He was certain if he tried to force his way in, the Fatty Lady would go screaming off for help. 'What excuse would she accept to let me in without a password. Maybe a medical emergency?' He glanced at the painting - the Fat Lady looked like she was settling into her chair for a nap 'Whatever I do, it better be soon.'
Harry stepped up to the portrait and had just opened his mouth when a girl flew through the paining and stopped just short of slamming into him.
Harry jerked backward, falling on his rear before spinning back up in a fighting stance.
"Eep!" the girl eeped, freezing in place. Harry took a closer look at her - she looked to be about 11 years old, with red hair. And the fact that she was floating several inches off the floor made it clear that she was a ghost. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you,." she apologized with automatic politeness.
"It's ok. It looks like I scared you just as bad." Harry smiled.
"Did not! After all I'm dead, so what could scare me?" she replied with a pout.
Harry shook his head in amusement, "Well, I am pleased to meet you, anyway. I thought I knew all the ghosts at Hogwarts. I am Harry Potter" During his first year, Harry had taken notes on all the local ghosts and their usual haunts, because he was nervous that one of them might see him doing something he shouldn't (like passing notes in History of Magic or something) and report him to Dumbledore or worse, the Dursleys. Harry smiled at the memory. He had been such a clueless kid. The ghosts didn't care what you did.
"I know who you are" The ghost girl replied with a huff, "The Boy-Wh-Lived, Harry Potter."
"I haven't heard that in a while - I thought people got that title out of their systems after my first year" Harry shook his head in annoyance. It had taken the media (and some of the students) almost the whole year to decide that he was just a normal kid, and that he wasn't going to do anything special. "But who are you?"
"I'm Ginny Weasley"
"OH." Harry's eyes got big. He had heard the story about her - she had been abducted as a first year and used in some sort of Dark ritual that was supposed to destroy the whole school, but instead of succumbing to it, she had forced herself to become a ghost so that she could go warn Dumbledore. She had been a hero, albeit a tragic one, to the students last year.
"You know you should close your mouth, or you're going to catch flies" As Harry's mouth snapped shut, she continued, but less confidently, "You.. I hear that you're competing in the Triwizard thingee.." she looked down and swept her toe back in forth, as if she was drawing in the dirt, despite hanging several inches off of the floor. She clutched her hands behind her back
"Uhm yeah? Do you know something about it?" Harry asked quizzically, his spite at Parvati forgotten.
"Um, maybe?" She looked around nervously, "The other ghosts said I am not supposed to tell a living soul about what I see, and that I should avoid contact with people who I knew when I was alive. But I didn't ACTUALLY know you, you know?"
"Please, I could use all the help I can get." Harry asked in his best 'mature' voice. 'If I act all whiney, she's going to laugh at me and fly off.'
"Yeah, you're not a very good student are you?" Her eyes got big as she said that, "I'm sorry!" she clutched her hands to her mouth in horror, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to be rude." She looked at Harry's desperate face and gave a theatrical sigh, she glanced around to see if there was anybody (or any-ghost) around. The Fat Lady was snoring quietly, and otherwise, the corridor was empty. She whispering conspiratorially "Try holding the egg under water as you open it." She turned to flee.
"Why?"
"Because then.. No, I shouldn't tell you, but it's what that big boobed french floozy did." She darted into the wall.
end chapter
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