Hogwarts High II
By Siriusly Amused
Author's Note: Here I am, starting this chapter over yet again. Go me.
Disclaimer: I still don't own the HP universe…
Chapter Six
Cool Watermelon Bubblegum
Lyrics go here
●●● Hermione ●●●
I stormed out of the classroom, tears of anger and embarrassment filling my eyes and blurring my vision as I rushed down the hall. I was so distraught that I did not register that the hall was filled with innumerable, unknown students until I ran into one of them.
"Fuck, bitch! Watch where you're going! You nearly scuffed my loafers!"
"Sorry," I mumbled, sidestepping whoever it was that I had run into with the intent of continuing my trek to the girl's bathroom; however, I was prohibited by an arm shooting out in front of me. Sighing with exasperation, I turned back toward the male I had run into. "Listen, I said that I was sor…"
"Granger?"
I stopped mid-word and blinked. I knew that voice! I brought my hands to wipe the tears from my eyes; once my vision was cleared, I saw — though I hardly believed it — Draco Malfoy standing in front of me. His once pallid complexion was now tanned slightly, and short, spiked black locks replaced the long, bleached hair he previously sported.
"Draco?" I asked, squinting my eyes and cocking my head to the side. What on Earth was Draco Malfoy doing in my school?
Draco's scowl pulled into a slight smile as he took a step closer to me, appearing as though he was about to hug me.
"There you are, Malfoy! Why the hell aren't you changed? We're supposed to be on the field in fifteen minutes!"
Draco paused, his arms still outstretched in his interrupted hug, his scowl returning. I, on the other hand, turned quickly to my right and gasped. Harry, who had been approaching us, stopped short when he saw me.
"'Mione?" he asked, his eyes suddenly crinkling as a smile reached them.
"Harry?" I echoed, looking him up and down. Clad in a black and white soccer uniform, I couldn't help but notice that he had grown considerably in height over the summer. He rushed toward me and engulfed me in a hug, picking me up off my feet as he did so.
He spun me around and exclaimed how happy he was to see me before setting me back down and pulling away enough to look at me properly. His wide smile faded upon getting a closer look at my face.
"Hermione? What's wrong?"
I felt the prick of alarm in my neck as I realized that my eyes must have been red. I opened my mouth, wanting to assure him that nothing was the matter, but no words came out.
"She was crying," Draco unhelpfully added. "She was crying even before I yelled at her."
Harry sent Draco a piercing glare. "You yelled at her, you bastard?"
"I didn't know that the big ball of hair rushing toward me was her, okay? Had I known it was her and not some random girl with the intent of scuffing my loafers, I would have acted much differently!"
Harry gave Draco a rude hand gesture before redirecting his attention back to me.
"What happened?" he asked in a voice that sounded both demanding and gentle.
I forced a smile and waved him off. "Nothing. What are you two doing here?"
The boys exchanged worried glances.
"We're here for the soccer tournament tomorrow. Our school's participating."
"Soccer tournament?" I asked distractedly. "Oh. Right. Victor said something about a soccer tournament this weekend."
The three of us stood in silence for a few moments, Harry's arms still around my waist and Draco standing casually with his hands in his pockets; both boys had concerned expressions as they gazed at me.
"I can't believe you guys are here!" I exclaimed, pulling them both into a hug in the hope of distracting them from pressing the matter.
"Draco. Harry. I'm sorry to interrupt, but could you possibly break yourselves away from this lovely young lady and go to practice?"
The boys pulled themselves away from me and turned toward their coach, a stout, timid-looking man.
Harry turned back to me. "Is your cell phone number the same as it was last year?" he asked anxiously.
"Yeah."
"Okay, we'll call you after practice then. The three of us could get together and hang out tonight!"
I smiled. "I'd like that."
●●● Ron ●●●
A drop of clear liquid fell into the beaker and Noelle, Neville and I simultaneously turned our heads to glare at Lavender. The four of us were working on a chemistry experiment in the lab and were currently hovering over the beaker, hoping to see a change in color or something.
"If that tear ruins our experiment, you're writing up the lab reports for the next month," I told Lavender, who sniffled in response.
"You're so insensitive, Ron," she replied moodily, using my real name as opposed to that horrible nickname she concocted.
I sighed in frustration. Lavender had been a leaky faucet for the past two weeks.
"Why aren't you wearing safety goggles anyway?" I asked. Noelle and Neville both nodded in agreement with my question. Lavender looked scandalized.
"Me? Wear safety goggles? Do you know how dorky I would look in them?"
"Probably not much more dorky than the rest of us look in them," Noelle reasoned. She was busy adding another chemical to our concoction, and she gave a satisfied smile as the liquid in the beaker turned purple.
"Good job, Noelle!" I complimented, patting her shoulder with my left hand as I used my right to write down the change on the lab sheet.
"Ginny!" Noelle exclaimed in shock.
"No, I'm Ron," I replied, keeping my eyes on my paper, yet furrowing my brow in confusion. Surely Noelle could tell me apart from my sister! My hair wasn't that long!
"No, Ron. Ginny's here!" Noelle elaborated, bringing a hand under my chin and lifting my face. Sure enough, Ginny was standing at our lab table, her brown eyes wide with shock. She appeared to be out of breath.
"Ginny, what the…?"
"Come to the cafeteria. Now."
"Wha…?" But before I could articulate a sentence, Ginny grabbed my hand and led me out of the classroom. I vaguely registered Snape threatening us with detentions as we disappeared down a flight of stairs.
The cafeteria was filled with people. A DJ was on the far wall, playing music while Dumbledore danced the robot on the stage. Over Dumbledore hung a banner that had the words, "Weasels! Opening tonight!" painted on it.
"This is insane!" I stated in shock.
"I think it just got even more insane," Ginny replied, nodding toward the wall on our right. Following her gaze, I found Bill talking enthusiastically with Tonks, his left arm resting on the wall behind her, as if he were claiming his territory.
"Why is Bill here?" I asked, unable to take my eyes off of my brother and my teacher, despite Dumbledore initiating the electric slide on the stage.
"I don't know," Ginny replied.
"Why is he talking to Tonks?" I decided to not point out the proximity of their bodies.
"I think they went to high school together."
"You don't think they'll start dating, do you?"
"God, I hope not."
"Ron!"
I turned around and saw Lavender rushing toward me. I raised a questioning eyebrow as she approached.
"Snape says that you have five minutes to return to class before he confiscates your pop tarts and eats them."
"Gotta go, Gin."
●●● Draco ●●●
Immediately after practice, Potter called Granger and had her direct us over the phone to her bedroom window (because we had been warned against entering the female houses, so we had to sneak in). A tree stood relatively close to her second story window, and with our superb stealth training from the year before, we were able to successfully sneak into her room.
"You guys could have showered before coming here, you know," Granger scolded playfully, eyeing our dirty soccer uniforms and holding her nose against our manly stench. Potter offered her a lopsided grin as a pathetic sort of apology.
"We wanted to see you, Hermione," he added.
Hermione smiled at us as she opened up her other window, as if she were afraid we'd make her room smell bad.
"Honestly, woman, if you're that concerned about the way we smell, we'll use your shower!" I exclaimed, taking off my shirt and walking into Hermione's adjoining bathroom (how much were her parents paying for her to have her own room and her own bathroom? Even I'm impressed!).
"Draco, don't strip in front of Hermione!" Potter yelled.
"I'm keeping my shorts on," I pointed out, throwing my dirty cleats and socks to a corner of her bathroom. "Joining me Potter?"
"Fuck no!"
"Not even if I did this?" I quickly strode over to Granger and picked her up, carrying her over my shoulder, Tarzan-style, into her overly large shower. She gave an uncharacteristic, high pitch squeak as I turned the water on. Potter rushed into the bathroom and stared into the shower, horrified.
His wide-eyed shock melted into a smile as Granger's shrieks turned into giggles and I felt confident enough to set her down.
"Excellent, I've always wanted my hair to smell like strawberries," I commented, reaching for the shampoo. Granger giggled some more and looked down at her now soaked sweatshirt and shorts. Potter was still standing outside of the shower, looking hesitant.
"Oh come on, Harry!" Granger chided. "You do smell."
Potter stuck his tongue out at her before taking off his cleats, socks and shirt. He looked around the room quickly – as if he expected to find an audience watching us – before he joined us in the shower, stealing the shampoo from me.
The next half an hour consisted of the three of us blowing soap bubbles, flicking soap suds at one another and each of us singing horribly in the shower.
●●● Ginny ●●●
"Well, there goes the college idea," Mom stated with a sigh as our limo (courtesy of Fred and George) pulled up in front of Weasels. Dad's jaw dropped and Ron and I could only nod stupidly in response.
The two-story store known as Weasels was lit up with spotlights and had bouncers keeping the crowd back. It looked more like a popular night club than a store.
Someone opened the car door for us and we were greeted with applause and a few flashes from the newspaper photographer as we stepped out of the car and headed toward the building.
I found Noelle, Neville, Seamus, Dean, Lavender and Parvati standing in the crowd, and I told the nearby bouncer to let them through. They were all smiling, and even Ron and Lavender seemed to have forgotten the past couple of weeks and were treating one another very civilly as we entered the store, sucking in our breaths with amazement as we did so.
Weasels was everything that Fred and George had promised and more. The first floor consisted of a café equipped with plush armchairs and couches, a cluster of computers for kids to do research, homework, photoshop etc., a gaming area, a music area, and – located behind two heavy oak door – a small cinema where Fred and George intended to show greatly anticipated movies at midnight opening day.
True to the twin's word, The Weird Sisters were playing by the main staircase that led to the store area on the second floor. It was there that people could buy the many joke products that the twins had invented over the years.
"I always knew they were special," Dumbledore stated suddenly, appearing out of nowhere and causing me to jump. After I got over my initial shock, I realized that the bouncers were slowly letting the crowd in.
"I always thought they were special too," I told my principal. "Only I think my version of special was different than your version."
Dumbledore smiled. "I simply must try this Final Fantasy game that everyone's been talking about," he announced unexpectedly, meandering over to the gaming section.
I laughed and shook my head at his antics, then realized that my brother and friends had left me. I had only taken a few steps when I found Bill and Tonks wrapped up in each other, his arms around her waist, hers around his neck, their foreheads touching while they smiled at one another.
The sight caused me to stop in my tracks and mutter 'What the fuck?' under my breath; then a very pretty, albeit upset, blonde stalked past me. I assumed that the blonde was Bill's ex-girlfriend, and my gut told me that Tonks and Bill were just putting on a show to make her jealous (which I had to admit was very immature for them).
Satisfied with that explanation, I went over to the music section and danced with Neville, Seamus and Parvati for awhile before I excused myself to look around on the second floor.
I didn't get far when I found Bill's blonde ex-girlfriend hitting on Ron, her arms around his waist while she whispered things into his ear. Ron appeared very pleased at this, yet tried to brush her off, recognizing her as off limits. The blonde was very persistent though, and Ron's pleased demeanor was changing into a pained one. He wanted her, and his will power was diminishing by the second.
I was about to stalk over to them and tell the blonde to back off, but before I could even take a step, Noelle was there. Possessing a bravery that I didn't know she had, she physically pushed the blonde off of Ron, telling her to leave him alone. By this time I was close enough to them that I could hear what they were saying, yet they didn't notice me.
"Your brother can make his own decisions, Ginny!" the blonde – who, if I remember correctly was named Fleur – stated, mistaking Noelle for me.
"I'm not Ginny," Noelle replied, crossing her arms and glaring at Fleur.
"Don't lie to me!"
Noelle's eyebrows rose. "If I were Ginny, would I do this?" And before any of us knew what was happening, Noelle had turned, brought her hands to Ron's cheeks, pulled him closer and kissed him.
"Eh?" Fleur stated in confusion, which was my sentiment exactly.
Noelle and Ron broke apart slowly; Ron was looking at her pensively.
"I think I'm going to go home before I find Fred or George making out with Parvati or someone," I announced to no one in particular.
"Eh?" Fleur asked, noticing me for the first time. I ignored her and left.
●●● Fred ●●●
"Hey, Fred?"
"Hm?"
"Is it just me or does Parvati look amazingly good tonight?"
I glanced over to the music section and caught a glimpse of said female dancing with Neville.
"She looks amazingly good tonight," I confirmed to my twin before turning back to the register I was currently working.
"I wonder why I'm suddenly very attracted to her," George continued.
"It's probably the low-cut top."
"Yeah, I don't know what it is."
●●● Hermione ●●●
It was getting late, but Draco and Harry both remained in my room, seemingly having no intention of leaving. Harry and I were lying on my bed, my head resting on his chest as he lazily ran a hand through my hair. I vaguely realized that if anyone who didn't know us saw us like that, they would assume that we were dating. Draco was at my desk, slouching in my chair as he checked his e-mail.
The three of us had spent the night talking and eating junk food before lapsing into silence. I had forgotten what it was like to sit in a perfectly comfortable silence with my friends. Hell, I had forgotten what it was like to have friends! It seemed as though my only friend at school was Victor.
I felt my eyes well up with tears again as I remembered how Gavin had teased me in front of the entire class earlier that day. I had been teased before of course, but I had never felt so alone in my life. Everything was becoming so unbearable.
I closed my eyes against the tears and concentrated on the beating of Harry's heart and the tapping of Draco's fingers against the keys of my keyboard. Some time passed and I heard Draco turn out the light; a moment later, he climbed into bed with us, lying on the other side of me, curling against my back and throwing an arm around my waist. The three of us fell asleep.
●●● Ginny ●●●
"Oh good, you're up," Ron exclaimed loudly as he burst through the doors that separated my room from his.
"I could have been changing!" I yelled at him, sending him a glare as I set my book down. Why don't my brothers ever knock?
"And that would have traumatized me," he stated, coming over to plop down on his back at the foot of my bed.
I sighed. "What do you want?" I asked, nudging his head with my foot.
He swatted my foot away and stared silently up at the ceiling for a moment before rolling over and propping himself up on an elbow to face me.
"Does Noelle ever talk about me?"
"Not really," I replied truthfully, growing agitated. My brothers' love lives were so much more interesting than my own, currently nonexistent one. Ron's face looked slightly pained. "You like her don't you?" I asked with a smirk.
"What? No! At least not like that!" he snapped, way too quickly.
I smirked. "You like her."
"Shut up, Ginny!"
I giggled as he plopped back down upon his back and stared moodily up at the ceiling once more. The minutes ticked by in silence as Ron and I meditated on our thoughts. I wasn't completely sure how I felt about this recent development; a part of me felt loyalty to Hermione, but the saner part of me realized that she was far away and out of Ron's reach.
"Guess what I saw on my way out of the store tonight?" Ron asked suddenly, his voice calmer than before.
"What?"
"Parvati slapping George. He apparently made a hit on her."
I groaned. "Why are my brothers so perverted all the time?"
"It's the red hair."
I threw my pillow at Ron; he merely laughed and got up, heading toward his room.
"Goodnight, Ginny."
"Night."
●●●
From: Noelle
Sent: September 26th, 11:29 PM
To: Ginny
Subject: Um…
Gin,
I don't know what to say. I also don't know why I kissed Ron. I just saw that blonde girl throwing herself on him, and I just snapped. It really frustrated me! I didn't realize what I was doing until after I did it. You're not mad are you? Please don't be mad.
Noelle
●
From: Double your pleasure, double your fun!
Sent: September 26th, 11:32 PM
To: Hot Stuff
Subject: Hey babe!
Noelle,
If you find yourself feeling suddenly attracted to Weasley men (and let's face it, who could blame you), we're offering ourselves to you! Why stick with Ron when you could have us?
Sincerely,
The Hottest Weasleys (a.k.a. Fred and George)
●
From: Um…
Sent: September 26th, 11:35 PM
To: Ron's twin brothers
Subject: Thanks but…
No thanks.
Noelle
●
From: Heartbroken boys
Sent: September 26th, 11:40 PM
To: She who spurned us
Subject: tear
You don't know what you're missing, babe. If you ever change your mind, you know where to find us.
●
From: I don't understand my horny brothers
Sent: September 26th, 11:40 PM
To: Noelle
Subject: I'm not mad, just confused
Noelle,
Tonight was a really weird night for me. Before I walked into the love triangle that is you, my brother, and a different brother's ex-girlfriend, I saw the brother who has the blonde ex-girlfriend gazing lovingly into a teacher's eyes. That sentence was totally confusing. Disregard it completely.
What I want to know is your feelings for Ron. In your first e-mail, it sounded like the kiss just happened, but if you really like him, I'd like to know.
Ginny
●
From: Noelle
Sent: September 26th, 11:45 PM
To: Gin
Subject: Your brother
Gin,
I honestly don't know what I feel for Ron. Had you asked me this yesterday, I would have honestly said that we were just friends, but now I don't know.
Noelle
●
From: Gin
Sent: September 26th, 11:55 PM
To: Noelle
Subject: My brother
I guess we'll just have to wait and see what happens. :)
●
From: I look good in the shower
Sent: September 26th, 11:56 PM
To: The Weasel Twins
Subject: Showers
Dudes,
You're not going to believe what happened tonight! I totally showered with Granger! And Potter, but we'll not focus on that bit of info. What matters is that my hair now smells like strawberries! Well, I'm knackered, so I'm going to go join Granger in bed. Potter's there too, but again, we'll just not focus on that.
He who you want to shower with (because I know you do!)
●
From: We want to shower with Hermione!
Sent: September 27th, 4:25 AM
To: He who named our kick ass store without knowing it
Subject: Re: Showers
What. The. Hell. Lucky bastard.
●●●
Author's Note:
Wet clothes are not fun to wear. I debated to have Harry, Draco and Hermione all strip, but Harry and Hermione would never do that (Draco probably would though). Really, the whole shower thing came out of nowhere. I imagine Hermione changed into dry clothes afterwards, and Harry and Draco's soccer shorts would dry relatively fast – we'll just forget about their boxers at the moment. Or we'll pretend that their boxers dried fast as well.
Originally, I was going to have Ron and Fleur start a relationship for a bit, but I decided that that was too weird.
And you guys should thank SillyGillie for bringing Harry, Draco and Hermione together. She e-mailed me back in January and said that it would be cool to have Harry and Draco face off Krum in a soccer game. So the idea is hers and the game will take place in the next chapter! -hands SillyGillie a plate of cookies-
As for the Bill/Tonks thing… I unintentionally made them the same age in this fic, so they would have been classmates at Hogwarts. When Ron and Ginny saw them in the school's cafeteria, there was nothing going on with them. Bill was there to support the twins and he ran into Tonks. I see Bill as one of those guys who unconsciously flirts all the time, which explains his protective stance with Tonks. And when Ginny caught them together at Weasels later that night, they were just trying to make Fleur mad. This will be developed more in the next chapter.
Also, I just received a review today. Kime pointed out that I had both Harry and Draco's foster fathers and their coaches named Bert and Ernie! I noticed this awhile ago, and I meant to say something sooner, but I kept forgetting. They're not the same people; just forgot that I had named the foster fathers Bert and Ernie when I was picking a name for the soccer coaches.
And I couldn't think of any lyrics for this chapter, so I just don't have any.