Chapter 17

A/N: I actually do have a good excuse this time for not updating. My history teacher assigned an enormous project that has been slowly sucking out my soul like a dementor. Plus, I'm lazy ;) So, as it's due tomorrow and I've finished, I finally sat down and made myself finish this chapter. Hope you like it; please drop me a line to let me know what you think!

Disclaimer: Not J.K. Rowling; don't own HP

"So did either of y'all have any brainwaves?" asked Kailey the next day in the Common room. Charlotte was off somewhere hanging out with her friend Jessamine, and we were making the most of it. We had managed to snag some decent chairs about ten feet from the fire, which was pretty good for a couple of third years.

"Brain what?" said Rose, eyebrows arching.

She rolled her eyes. "Ideas."

"Oh. Well… no."

Kailey sighed dramatically. "Allie?"

"Did you really just say y'all?"

Kailey gave me a look. "Not the point." As an afterthought, she added, "Yes, yes I did."

"Weell," I said, drawing out the word, "I might've."

"Might've what?"

"Had a brain…thingy."

"At least one of you is useful," said Kailey with a pointed look at Rose that elicited her a light punch. "Ow!"

"You deserved it," said Rose, smirking.

"D'you want to hear it or not?" I asked.

"Right, sorry. Go on."

"So I was thinking-" Just then, the portrait hole opened and Charlotte climbed through. "Just play along," I muttered. "Rose, complain about being bored."

Rather loudly, Rose announced, "I'm so bored!"

Charlotte, who had reached us, said, "You could do your homework."

Rose looked at her. "When did you get so studious? Besides," she added a bit smugly, "I've already finished."

"Nerd," muttered Kailey.
"Hmm?" said Rose, looking at her.

"Nothing," Kailey replied innocently.

"Well, eef you've finished, then we could do sometheeng," Charlotte said.

"Which brings us back to my first point: I'm bored." Rose let out a theatrical sigh and leaned back in her chair.

"Let's play truth or dare!" I suggested as though I'd just thought of it.

"With only four people? That's no fun," said Kailey, catching on.

"Well then let's invite the guys," I said. "C'mon." I hopped up, grabbed Charlotte, and dragged her over to the couches in front of the fire where my brother, James, and Fred Weasley sat.

"We challenge you to a game of truth or dare," I announced.

"Because that went so well the first time," muttered James.

"What? No one got caught," I said.

"You mean you didn't get caught. When Fred came back with Filch on his tail, he saw the Stinkbombs and sent us all to McGonagall."

Oops. "Oh, come on. No Stinkbombs this time, how 'bout that?"

"Fine… I haven't got anything better to do," said Fred.

"Okay," said Will.

"…Alright!" said James. "But I get to go first!"

"Childish much?" muttered Rose as we girls plopped down on empty couches.

"Stuff it," said James. And then he grinned evilly. "Rose, truth or dare?"

"Truth," she said quickly, obviously wanting to avoid whatever horrible fate James had planned out for her.

"Baby." She stuck out her tongue. "Fine. Um… who do you like?"

"Seriously? That's got to be the most boring truth known to mankind."

"But yet you don't want to answer," said James, smirking.

Rose blushed. "Pass."

"Aw, no passes!" complained Will. "Then no one does anything!"

"C'mon, Rose! No one's going to tell," wheedled Kailey.

"Fine," she mumbled. "Er, Tanner Regis."

She was met with six blank looks.

"Who's that?" asked Fred.

"A Hufflepuff in my year."

"Okay?" he said, clearly not familiar with Tanner.

"My turn," said Rose, clearly not comfortable with this subject. She inclined her head slightly toward Will and then turned to me. I gave her a quick nod, and she said, "Will, truth or dare?"

"Dare," he said confidently.

Barely managing a straight face, Rose said, "Okay. Then I dare you to give Charlotte a piggy back ride and run through the hallway singing 'A Whole New World'."

Will paled. "What?"

"You heard me. Go on, Charlotte. Get on." I turned to look at Charlotte, whom I found was blushing furiously and looking absolutely mortified.

"Oh, honestly," said Kailey. "It's not as though anyone will be out there to see you."

"And," I added, grinning, "You did say that having passes makes it boring."

Will gave me the evil eye but stood and knelt so that Charlotte could get on. Both their faces looked like they might catch fire.

"I apologize," I heard him mutter to Charlotte as he struggled through the portrait hole, attracting quite a lot of stares.

"Why are we still sitting here?" asked Fred. "C'mon!" We all dashed to the portrait hole just in time to hear Will start singing.

"I can show you the world, shining, shimmering, splendid…" Glancing back at my friends, I saw their mouths wide open.

"W-Will can sing!" said Fred, goggling.

"He's bloody fantastic!" said Rose.

"Yeah, a little bit," I said smugly.

"You knew?"

"Of course. He's my brother, after all. You accidentally picked the perfect dare."Rose laughed incredulously.

"A whole new world," he sang, his voice echoing off the stone walls and floors. "A new fantastic point of view…" I heard Charlotte's laughter ringing out as he spun around. "No one to tell us no, or where to go, or say we're only dreaming,"

Turning around again, I was surprised to find practically the whole Common room standing behind me, watching the spectacle. Several of the girls looked veritably jealous, and I heard whispers going around.

"Unbelievable sights, indescribable feelings, soaring tumbling, freewheeling, through an endless diamond sky,"

"What is going on here?" boomed McGonagall's voice as she hurried down the corridor and was nearly mowed over by Will and Charlotte. "What is the meaning of this…" she stopped as she heard Will singing the last few words.

"Let me share this whole new world with you…" he stopped running, let Charlotte down gently, and stood there for a moment, panting.

And then the corridor exploded with applause, whoops, and catcalls. Even McGonagall looked as though a reluctant smile was finding its way to her face. Will gave Charlotte a high-five, and I did the same to Rose and Kailey.

"Part one accomplished," I whispered, and they grinned back at me.

"Quiet," said McGonagall, barely raising her voice, and the hallway fell silent. "Back to the Common room, everyone." We all turned to leave. "Except you two." Will and Charlotte hung back, looking nervous.

"Ooh, I hope we didn't land them in detention," said Kailey worriedly when we were back in the Common room.

"Probably not," said James, although he didn't sound very sure. "Anyway, that was an awesome dare!"

"Yeah," agreed Fred. "D'you know, I sort of got the feeling that Will fancies Charlotte."

"No way," said James, laughing. "I don't see it at all."

Rose, Kailey and I had to sprint upstairs before we could collapse laughing.

Pagebreak

"What happened?"

"Did you get detention?"

"Are you in trouble?"

Charlotte had just walked in, and it had been ten minutes of agony for us, waiting in the dormitory.

She smiled, putting her hands up in surrender. "Professor McGonagall found eet very funny, alzough she pretended not to. She said zat she must give us detention for eet but eet eez only one night."

"Aw, Char," said Rose, giving her a hug. "I'm sorry! I didn't think McGonagall would actually come."

"Eet eez alright," she said good-naturedly. "One detention will not keel me."

"Yeah, and you get to do it with Will," said Kailey, wiggling her eyebrows suggestively. Charlotte blushed.

"Very funny. I am going to get ready for bed," she said, heading for the bathroom. As soon as she'd closed the door, we all convened at Rose's bed.

"So tonight was a success, if a bit cheesy," she said quickly. "But we need to come up with a part two. Detention ought to be a good time, but I don't know how we could do anything. Unless…"

"Invisibility Cloak," finished Kailey, a smile spreading over her face.

Charlotte walked out of the bathroom wearing her favorite lavender pyjamas with the smiling moons.

"What deed I miss?"

"Oh, nothing…" I hurried for my bed, drew the curtains, and giggled helplessly into my pillow.

(Pagebreak)

"Commence Operation Get These Romance Blind Idiots Together, Part Two," whispered Rose as she, Kailey and I stood under the Invisibility Cloak outside the classroom door where Will and Charlotte were to have detention. They had not yet arrived, and we were waiting for them to do so so that we could slip in behind them.

"That name is way too long," I informed her. Kailey nodded her head in agreement.

"Fine," grumbled Rose. "You come up with something, then."

"Operation Hook Up Will and Charlotte?" Kailey offered.

"Ew," I said. "Bad mental pictures."

"What about Operation We're Too Stupid to Come Up with a Name?"

"That's even longer than mine!" said Rose.

"I've got it! Operation SHUT UP THEY'RE COMING."

Kailey looked at me bemusedly. "That's a horrible-" Rose slapped a hand over her mouth as Will came around the corner, followed by Charlotte.

"I'm really sorry to have landed you in detention," said Will, leaning against the doorframe.

Charlotte smiled. "Zere is no need to apologize for ze feefth time, Will."

"Er, right. Sorry."

Charlotte laughed. "Seexth."

"You two will be cleaning up the mess that Peeves made in here," announced McGonagall, arriving at the doorway. "You may leave when you have finished. And no magic." She held out her hand, and they put their wands into it reluctantly. "I will be back in an hour to see to your progress. Alohomora." The door unlocked with a click and she strode away, surprisingly quickly for a woman of her age.

Charlotte eyed the closed door apprehensively. "Well, I suppose we might as well begin," she said. She opened the door and walked in, Will right behind her. Fortunately for us, we were ready and managed to squeeze in before he closed it. I felt him brush my shoulder and frown, looking bemusedly at his hand and then waving it where we had been standing a moment ago. Shrugging, he let it go, and we all let out a silent breath.

"Oh sweet Merlin," muttered Will, surveying the classroom. There were rude words written all over the chalkboard, spitballs stuck on the ceiling, random clumps of food strewn over the floor, and ripped up paper sprinkled everywhere so that it looked like it had snowed.

"At least she left us ze cleaning tools," said Charlotte halfheartedly, pointing at the pile of brooms (non-magical, of course), dustpans, and disinfectant spray.

"Why couldn't she just be nice and give us lines?" complained Will to the ceiling as he started towards the pile. As Charlotte hurried after him, Rose stuck out her foot so that Charlotte tripped over it with a little yelp. Will, spun around and managed to catch her before she hit the ground face-first. "You alright?"

"Y-yes, thank you," stuttered Charlotte, blushing prettily. Will held on to her for just a moment longer than was necessary, then seemed to snap out of it and hurried to help her stand. They gathered the cleaning supplies in silence other than an agreement to work on the paper first. As they started sweeping, we hustled to a corner and cast Muffliato.

"Okay, any ideas?" asked Rose.

"No, but nice move with the trip," said Kailey. As she was still behind me, I couldn't see her face, but I could hear the grin in her voice.

"Thanks," replied Rose. "Oh! And I've just had another idea. Does either of you have any Peruvian Instant Darkness powder on you?"

"Yeah, because I just carry that stuff on me everywhere," I said sarcastically.

Kailey snickered. "Sorry, I don't have any either."

"Ha ha," said Rose to me. "And it's not a big deal, anyway. It just would've been loads easier…" She trailed off. "Just follow me." We started moving again, shuffling towards the windows. When we reached the first one, Rose slowly began pulling the curtains shut. Will and Charlotte, who had started talking again, took no notice. When the window was completely covered, Rose muttered something under her breath, extinguishing a candle. She continued doing this until the only windows open were the two nearest to Will and Charlotte, who were completely oblivious to what was going on around them, and all the candles were out. The room was already fairly dark, and it was a wonder that they hadn't noticed yet. "On three, run with me, right foot first," said Rose. "One, two, three!" We sprinted for the first window and swished its curtain shut.

"What the-" started Will, seeming to suddenly notice the change in lighting. We kept going and yanked the final curtain shut, effectively throwing the room into darkness. We huddled together, backing into a corner as Charlotte yelped. "Lottie, are you okay?" called Will, his voice moving as he carefully tried to make his way back to her.

"F-fine," she said, her voice very high and shaky. "Where are you?"

"I'm here," he said, his voice sounding closer to hers now. "Eurgh, I just stepped in… something," he said, sounding disgusted. "Are you here?"

"Yes," said Charlotte, obviously petrified.

"Reach out," he told her, and they seemed to find each other, because Charlotte sighed in relief.

"I am sorry about zat," she said, her voice slightly calmer now. "I am a beet afraid of ze dark."

"Don't worry about it," he replied kindly. Behind me, I could hear Kailey all but squealing in delight. I, personally, was wondering where this nice, chivalrous Will came from. Unless something was seriously dangerous, he would have left me alone in a dark room without hesitation. And where did he store the Nice Will after its use was complete? I had a brief mental picture of Will standing in front of a closet full of different skins, and I shuddered. Gross.

"Allie!" said Rose, poking me. "Earth to Allie!"

"What? Sorry!"

"I've only been calling you for the past five minutes."

"I said I was sorry!"

I heard Rose huff and could all but see her rolling her eyes skyward. "Anyway, I reckon we should open back up the curtains."

"Okay," Kailey and I agreed, and we shuffled to a candle.

"Er, anyone know the charm to set something on fire?" said Rose after we'd stood there for a moment.

"No…" I said, suddenly feeling a bit foolish.

"I do!" sang Kailey, clearly beaming. "Incendio!" The candle lit, and I heard Will and Charlotte start.

"C'mon, we can go wait over there," I heard him say, and the footsteps drew hearer to us. We scurried away, opening curtains and lighting candles until the whole room was lighted again. Will probably would have followed the trail of suspiciously opening curtains, but he was too busy talking to Charlotte, who sighed with relief once the lights had been fully restored.

The rest of their detention, which really was only about twenty five minutes, passed uneventfully. Sitting uncomfortably closely in a corner, Kailey, Rose and I continued brainstorming names for our operation. By the time McGonagall had come back, we still hadn't thought of anything really good, but after we'd slipped out behind them and made our way to an empty corridor to remove the Cloak, I'd had, as Kailey had put it, a brainwave.

"Operation Whole New World," I told them proudly as we folded up the Cloak.

"Excellent," said Rose, grinning. "Operation Whole New World Part 2: accomplished." We managed a sloppy 3-way high five and returned to the Common room, very pleased with ourselves.

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