Some Like It Mild
By Kukaburry
Chapter 7- A Shriekish Plan
Jenea: Why yes, I believe Remus Lupin would be worth every penny in my bank account… not that there's much in there.. but that's hardly the point :D.
Thanks for the reviews everyone. I'm glad you're enjoying where I'm going with the plot. I was very frustrated the other day because J.K. Rowling went on a huge banter about why it's not 'normal' to enjoy/have a crush on a character like Draco's. Has she never heard of Pride and Prejudice or Sailor Moon :D. The guy character acts like a complete jerk but turns out to be a decent guy. Who doesn't fantasize that Malfoy will eventually be a 'good' guy (as far as that is physically possible of course).
After a night of tossing and turning, Laurie gratefully awoke early. She dressed quickly and noticed that Lily's bed hangings were pulled shut. 'She must have snuck in late last night.' Laurie thought sourly, holding back the urge to pull open the curtains and start yelling.
The Great Hall was empty when she arrived so she took out her Arithmancy book to study until breakfast began. She had barely read three pages when her mind began to wander. Remembering Malfoy's display last night, Laurie wanted to think of a way to get back at him. Maybe she could ask the twins for some of their special candy? No, that was a bit too vicious. There had to be something that Laurie could do: something memorable and shocking yet only for her private enjoyment.
It suddenly dawned on her; the shrieking shack! She could talk Fred and George into enchanting things in the shack while he was in there. She grinned manically and cackled. Someone coughed uncomfortably and she snapped her head up. "Oh, hi there. I was just plotting something evil in my head, I'm sorry if I scared you."
Harry Potter gave her a quizzical look and smiled in recognition. "You're that Ravenclaw girl who told Malfoy off yesterday, right?" She shrugged. "That was brilliant. I've never seen Malfoy so flabbergasted before. I've seen you hanging out with Fred and George before. Are you friends with them?"
"Fred and George like to look out for me. They think I let my mouth run away with me." That was the understatement of the year. 'Well that's mostly true now. Harry doesn't have to know that the twins saved me from Malfoy's group several times over.'
"They're good friends to me too. My name is Harry, what's yours?" He extended his hand.
"I'm Rye, Rye Carter." She shook his hand. "So what are you doing down here so early? Breakfast won't start for a while."
"My friend Ron wouldn't stop snoring." He sat down across from Laurie now. "I figured I could read through my Defense Against the Dark Arts book for some new spells." He pulled out his book. When Laurie gave him a questioning look, he smiled and explained. "It's my favorite class. It's pretty much my only good class. I'm lucky McGonagall talked professor Snape into letting me take potions with only an E otherwise I wouldn't be able to become and Auror." He blushed, embarrassed about talking too much.
Laurie put her book away and leaned in towards Harry. "I think Auror is a fascinating subject. I want to be an Ancient Runes decoder myself. I read about some decoders who get to go into cursed Pyramids and figure out why the curse is still lingering. I've heard there are even zombies."
"Wow that does sound interesting." He regarded her carefully. "Are you a new transfer here? I honestly don't remember ever seeing you in any of my classes."
'I remember seeing you in a lot of my classes Harry, but you're oblivious just like everyone else in the school.' "No, I'm not new." She twirled a strand of hair then stated airily. "I don't really recall seeing you in my classes either, but we must have had one or two. The past five years are kind of fuzzy since they've flown by so fast. I mean having class with the most famous wizard of our era would definitely rank high on my list." She gave him a joking smile.
Harry blushed and mumbled, "I'm not that famous."
"Ah. That's cute. I like a guy who is modest. It's such a contrast to people who consider themselves gift's to the wizarding world, you know like Malfoy."
"Talking about me again Carter? I can't really blame you." Draco asked lazily, sitting down next to Laurie and glaring at Harry.
Laurie sighed dramatically. "Can you please stop stalking me? It's really creepy. I was just beginning to enjoy intelligent company away from you for once." Laurie snarled, but Draco continued to smile smugly.
"You know, Blaise's bed didn't make any noise last night. You two must have used a hovering charm and a silence charm, am I right?" Laurie gritted her teeth. "But your friend Lalee, now she was a screamer, although everyone I'm with can't help but scream in pleasure. I'm just that desirable." Laurie's stomach knotted, but she didn't understand why. Harry made a retching sound, bringing Laurie back to reality.
"Right, but I'm about to scream in agony if you continue." She shoved him fiercely. "My friend's name is LILY you pig. You can leave now and take your stupid made-up stories with you. I was having a pleasant conversation."
"With Potter? That's a laugh. You're really scraping the bottom of the barrel if Potter is next on your list." Laurie knew very well what he meant by 'list'.
"I don't have any list Malfoy. Maybe I'm just looking to be friends with Harry. Just because you want to shag anything that moves doesn't mean that everyone does." She braved a coy smile in Harry's direction. "Not that I wouldn't shag you Harry, you are very handsome."
Harry smiled through a deep blush. "Erm, thanks. You're very attractive as well Rye." She could tell he was feeling extremely uncomfortable. "I'm sure Malfoy can only dream about dating someone half as beautiful and smart as you," he added, returning Laurie's coyness.
Laurie laughed. "I can only assume so Harry. I'm not sure Malfoy would admit to such a thing. He insists that he would never date anyone below his blood-standard and he has declared me a disgusting half-blood. I can't imagine how embarrassing it might be if his friends discovered him pining over someone like me." She put her hand to her forehead for effect.
Berating Draco began to feel like a lop-sided game; Laurie enjoyed this thought. "I, Draco, only date the crème-de-la-crème and you are simply a plain muffin mixed in with delicious scones." She nodded towards Harry. "You are arrogant and conceited and I have never seen you act like a gentleman towards any girl or even your friends."
Draco was stung. Bristling, he imagined hexing the smirk off of her face. "I would never date someone as self-centered as you Carter." Draco snapped, no longer enjoying where the conversation was leading.
"Well it takes one to know one apparently." The two glowered at each other. "Look! There's your boyfriend's, Crabbie and Goylie. Hurry off so they don't think you're cheating on them." Harry chuckled and copied Laurie's hand gestures.
Draco growled and stomped away towards the Slytherin table. Harry and Laurie were glad to see the back of him. 'I hate having him embarrassing me every day.' She shook her head angrily. "Where were we?" She tried to smile, but was lost in her mind wanderings.
'I hate having her embarrassing me every day.' Draco growled. 'She thinks I'm only attracted to girls like her. She would piss herself if she knew the girl I liked four years ago.' He remembered the girl sitting in the corner reading, ignoring everyone. 'Carter wouldn't know a book if it hit her in the face even if she does pretend to be smart.' He threw a glare at Laurie and Harry over his shoulder then sat down with his ignoramus friends.
"I do believe Malfoy has put you ahead of me on his most loathed people's list," a smile tugged at Harry's lips.
"Well we're even then. He's been at the top of my list for four years." Laurie replied darkly. "I'm sorry. Can we talk later? I have a sudden headache." Harry nodded understandingly and headed back to his own table.
"Hey, Rye, can we talk?" A soft voice spoke from her left. Laurie looked up to see a guilty-looking Lily.
"I guess. What do you want?"
"I want to say I'm sorry. I shouldn't have gone with Malfoy last night. I only did it because I was tired of seeing you get all of these guys while I was sitting there in the background."
"Oh." This was not what she had expected. Laurie suddenly felt ridiculous. "I see. Why didn't you just say something? Pretending to date Malfoy was a bit dramatic." Her expression turned sour. "And then sleeping with him? What were you thinking Lil?"
Lily tensed and whispered, "I didn't sleep with him Rye. He said he was tired… But he tried to beg me not to tell you." She smiled wickedly. "Ooops, I forgot. He was one heck of a snog though. Oh and his chest is all smooth and his lips are really soft and he smelled good." Both Lily and Laurie got goose bumps. "I do kind of enjoy his company though. He's not too bad once you take away his sneering visage. Please don't be mad at me."
"I'm going to throw up. Fine he's a good snog. Let's just leave it at that." Both girls burst into giggles. "I'll have to get used to him hanging around you though." Laurie spotted the Weasley twins talking with Harry. "I'll be right back. I have a brilliant plan that I formed this morning. Now that I found out you in fact are still my best friend, I will tell you about it when I get back." Lily bounced with anticipation.
"Oi Fred, George I have to talk to you. Hiya again Harry." Harry gave her a confused wave as she dragged the twins away to an empty spot further down the table. "Okay, you two must help me with my new evil plot." They gave her a 'how much are you going to pay us?' look. "It involves scaring the pants off of our favorite Slytherin."
"Oh, well then let us offer you our services for free madam." The twins chorused happily. She gave them all of the main details and they grew more excited every minute.
"Excellent we get to use that old passageway under the Whomping Willow finally." Fred chortled happily.
"Mr. Malfoy's greasy hair will stand on end. It's great because it's a full moon that night too." George added.
"We're sorry for underestimating you all these years Laurie, you really are a Weasley at heart."
"Thanks guys. You are like brothers to me. I mean, how many times did you stick up for me when Malfoy was putting me down?"
"We lost track at 200 in your third year." Fred replied coyly. He received a hard punch from Laurie. "Ow, only joking."
"Excellent, well I'm going to go put the plan into motion. Start practicing!" She hurried back to Lily just as Blaise and Malfoy arrived.
"What was that about?" Lily asked, puzzled.
"Oh well that…" she put on a false sad smile, "Fred and George were telling me about a dare they were trying to get Lee to do, but he totally chickened out and they were betting me that I couldn't do it myself." She noticed Malfoy's attention spike at that. "Of course I accepted the challenge. They told me it was going to be terrifying and that I had to be crazy to do it." She gave Lily a meaningful glance then turned back to Draco and Blaise.
"It's not something you would be interested in. It's probably too intimidating to even consider." She had to set up her challenge perfectly for Draco to fall for it.
"What is it?" Blaise asked, curious. 'Crap I hope he's not interested. That would make things difficult.'
"They dared me to sleep at the Shrieking Shack on Friday night during the full moon. They say that's when the ghosts become the most violent." Blaise visually gulped.
"That's not really my thing," he said truthfully. Ghosts terrified him. He couldn't look at the bloody baron without getting nauseous.
"That's too bad," she pretended to pout. "Who's going to keep me company? How about you Lily? Do you think you're up for the challenge?" Lily's stricken face said it all. "O-kay.. well I guess I'm going it alone," she gave an obvious look at Draco. "I know Malfoy would never accept the challenge. I'll bet he still sleeps with a teddy bear." Laurie mentally crossed her fingers hoping he would take the bait.
She sighed. "Wish me luck guys I—"
"Not so fast Carter. I could last longer in that house than you could." 'YES!'
"Are you sure you want to make that bet Malfoy? You've already lost to me twice, can your reputation really withstand another one?" Laurie taunted him for good measure.
"There is no way I'm going to lose. Ghosts don't scare me. Here's the deal, the loser has to do the winner favors for the next two weeks, no matter what it is."
Laurie narrowed her eyes, contemplating. 'This just keeps getting better.' "Deal. May the best woman win." She grinned cheekily and took Lily's and Blaise's arms and dragged them down next to her to begin breakfast.
Draco grinned behind her back. 'She has no idea what she's in for.'
Laurie smiled proudly at herself and winked at the twins. 'He has no idea what he's in for.'
Unfortunately, neither of them foresaw the real trouble they had gotten themselves into.
There we go. Another chapter down. I'm excited about writing the next chapter.
No matter how much Doloris Umbridge loves kittens, they will never love her back. ~Kukaburry