I'm Here When You Need Me- Chapter 9
Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter...I thought that would have been obvious by now...
A/N: Review, review, review! Thanks!
The next morning, Sarah got ready in record time. When she had gone up to bed the night before, she had taken a shower first, before sleeping. She only had to straighten her hair, then put her robes on. She put on minimal makeup, and grabbed her book bag. When she got down to the common room, Harry still wasn't there, so she sat down in a chair by the fireplace. She only had to wait for half a minute, because, just as she was getting comfy, Harry walked down the stairs.
"Hey, Harry. Ready to go?" she asked, standing up.
"Not yet," he answered, walking over to her.
He kissed her tenderly on the lips. "Now I am," he said, taking her hand.
They ate a quick breakfast, and then headed down to the dungeons. A group was already forming around the door, even though the pair was relatively early. Harry and Sarah spent the time talking in hushed voices, occasionally giggling, while they waited for Ron and Hermione to get there. When they finally reached the classroom, the door swung open. The quartet took a seat together in the back corner, away from the Slytherins.
"Don't get too comfortable, you will be switching seats today," Snape said to noticeable grumbles. "You will be working in partners for the next week, as the potion we will be brewing is difficult and needs two pairs of eyes watching it at all times."
The class started to shift the seats, so that they were seated next to someone. Harry and Sarah scooted close together, holding hands under the table, while Ron and Hermione did the same thing. Snape came stalking over to their corner.
"Oh, no. I think it is time we split up the dream team. Weasley, you will be working with Mr. Thomas. Miss Granger will be working with Miss Brown. Potter, with Mr. Finnegan, and Miss Casing," he paused, relishing the moment. "You will be working with Mr. Malfoy. Move, now. All of you," he said, walking away.
Sarah was glaring daggers at Snape. He knew perfectly well that Malfoy and she had been dating, and seeing Harry and her in the corridor the night before, probably sparked this coupling which he saw fit to compose. They all moved, but before they had gotten up, Harry whispered, "It will be okay, I promise."
Sarah walked over to where Malfoy was sitting. He had his trademark smirk on his face, with his arm over the top of the chair. When he saw how livid she looked , he cracked a smile and said, "This should be fun."
"Only for you. And need I remind you, that I will tell everyone about my little pet name for you if you try anything. I mean anything."
She said the last word with enough emphasis that it wiped the smirk off Malfoy's face. He turned around with a scowl in its place.
"You know how to ruin a guy's day, don't you?"
"Yes; and you certainly know how to ruin a relationship," she said sarcastically.
Malfoy paused before he spoke again.
"Listen, I'm sorry. I wish I hadn't kissed Parkinson. You are all I can think about now," he said, hoping she would forgive him. She scoffed.
"Malfoy, save it. I should have been the only one you thought about before. It's your fault I broke up with you. And I'm glad I did. Harry is now not only my best friend, but my boyfriend, and I wouldn't have it any other way."
Malfoy looked crestfallen. Sarah saw that Malfoy looked sad, so she gently placed her hand on his arm, below his elbow. Like she had said, she always tried to be civil, even to those she didn't like.
"But, you know what? I'm feeling in a forgiving mood, so I accept your apology," she said softly.
Malfoy gave her a hopeful smile. Not wanting to put any ideas in his head, she continued.
"Now, that isn't to say that we will ever get back together. I am happy with Harry, and I don't want to ruin it. We can still be friends though, okay?"
Malfoy's smile faded a bit, and then he replaced it just as quickly.
"Sure. But nothing less, right?"
"Right," Sarah smiled.
After a brutal Potions class, Sarah ran up to Harry, taking his offered hand, lacing her fingers in his. They walked together, with Ron and Hermione closely following, in silence for a while, until Harry spoke.
"I can't believe Snape. He obviously knows you aren't dating that git anymore, and yet he still put you with him for class. And it is for a whole week!"
"I know, it sucks. But I have decided to take the high road, so I told Malfoy I forgave him, and that we could still be friends, with it being clear we wouldn't ever get back together. But I still wish Snape hadn't caught us last night. If he hadn't, I have a feeling that he wouldn't have split us up," Sarah said with disgust in every syllable.
"What are you two talking about?" Ron said, putting his arm protectively around Hermione's waist. She blushed furiously.
"That's right. You guys don't know yet. Well if you hadn't taken forever eating this morning, we would have told you sooner," answered Harry.
Both Ron and Hermione turned a violent shade of red and began to look anywhere but at Harry and Sarah. The look they gave each other clearly said that eating a late breakfast isn't why they were late. Sarah realized what was going through her friends' minds, and started to giggle. Harry glanced at her, dumbfounded, but because Ron and Hermione weren't telling him why they had taken forever, he wasn't going to ask. He instead told them what had happened the night before, and got looks of shock when he had finished.
"That miserable git," Ron said.
Hermione looked like she agreed with Ron, so she said, "How horrible."
The rest of the day went by uneventfully. When they were in the common room that evening, schoolwork was the only thing on their minds. They had gotten a foot long essay from Snape, a dream chart from Trelawney, and they had to practice Summoning Charms for Professor Flitwick. The group had finished the essay a little after ten o'clock, when Harry, Ron, and Sarah began their dream charts. Hermione started Ancient Runes work.
"I hate Trelawney. These dream chart thingies are so stupid," Sarah groaned.
"Well, it should be easy work for us. Just make it up," Harry said with a shrug of his shoulders. Hermione looked like she could have slapped him.
"You can't just make it up. That's cheating. You know how I feel about cheating."
"Yes, we do. But we, on the other hand, just want to get through this year without her 'Seeing'", Sarah made air quotes with her fingers, "our impending doom. About ten times today alone, she told me I was going to die a slow painful death, while Harry tries to revive me, and then he stands over my lifeless body, sobbing. Then, after his last tear falls, he commits suicide at the thought of never seeing me again. A nice, simple dream of having eaten toast should alleviate that," Sarah said incredulously. Both Harry and Ron laughed uproariously.
Hermione looked like she still wanted to argue, but thought better of it. Hermione knew that Professor Trelawney was a fraud, so she seemed to decide that if they insisted on making up their dream charts, just so they could avoid bogus death warnings, she wouldn't argue.
That whole week went by the same. Lots of schoolwork and not much time to themselves. Finally, by Saturday, Sarah had had it.
"Harry, Ron, I am going to go to the Quidditch Pitch, just to fly around for a while. I can't take any more work, without letting off some steam. You two are free to join me if you like. Herms, if you want to watch, come with us," she said.
Both Ron and Harry jumped at the chance to get outside, and Hermione looked like she needed a break too. Running upstairs for their brooms, Harry, Sarah, and Ron quickly regrouped with Hermione in the common room. Slinging her Firebolt over her shoulder, Sarah took Harry's hand, then the quartet walked down to the Pitch. On the way, they met a few others, who all looked like they needed an escape from routine, so they joined the party. By the time they had reached the Pitch, they had enough people to start a game of Quidditch, with a few others watching.
"Can I play, too?" came a voice from the edge of the field.
Everyone looked over, and upon seeing Malfoy, most laughed. Sarah thought that she had, after all, began this little escapade, so she could invite anyone she wanted.
"Sure. Could you do me a favor, and grab the Quidditch crate from the locker rooms?" she said, to general shock.
Malfoy smiled, and as he ran to get the crate, Sarah looked around at the crowd, and almost all were looking at her in horror. Everyone else looked scandalized.
"Look, he is my friend, and since I started this whole thing, I will invite who I please. If any of you have a problem with this, you can leave, mind you, you will not be invited again in future. So either suck it up and play, or leave," she said, her hands on her hips.
"But if he plays, who says he will be fair?" one fifth year girl asked, and everyone murmured their agreement.
"I do," Malfoy said, coming up behind Sarah.
He had taken her by surprise, and she jumped slightly.
"That's right. He says so, and so do I. He promises to play nice, so everyone who is playing has to promise too," she said.
All those present muttered their consent, and Sarah looked satisfied. She held up a finger, to motion for a moment, then she took Harry and Malfoy aside.
"I know you two don't get along. At all. But could you guys play nice for this game? For me?" Sarah asked, pleading in her voice.
Harry looked daggers at Malfoy, who then looked at the ground. Harry then looked at Sarah, and said, "I will." She smiled at him, then he kissed her on the cheek. "For you, I will."
"I promise," Malfoy said.
"Thank you. Now let's get this started," she said with such enthusiasm, that it made Harry and Malfoy laugh.
Sarah then shouted, "Right, let's split into teams!"