Disclaimer: I own nothing! I own nothing! I own nothing!
...
Harry and Ron made their way across the damp spongy grass towards the castle, after an extremely tricky Herbology class of pruning the venomous tentacula plants – an activity which neither the class, nor the plants appeared to particularly enjoy. The vicious plants had put up a good fight, leaving scratches and cuts on every student who dared approach.
Trying to stem the flow of blood that dripped steadily from his arm, Harry debated silently whether or not to discuss mystery girl with Ron. He desperately needed some friendly advice, but he just wasn't sure Ron was up to the job. It had taken days before Ron had quit taunting him over Cho, and Harry knew he'd have a field day over this turn of events.
"Ron, I need to talk to you about something," He blurted out finally, "It's-"
But he was cut off as a terrified looking Neville sprinted towards them, looking utterly confused and panicked.
"Harry, hilfe!" Panted Neville desperately, "Oh mein Gott! Sie machen mir es trinken!"
Harry and Ron both exchanged utterly bewildered glances.
"Neville, what are you-"
But Neville was in a frenzied state and continued babbling.
"Je ne peux pas parler anglais. Qu'est-ce qui se passe?"
"Neville!" Ron bellowed, grabbing him by the shoulders and shaking him, "Snap the hell out of it! What's happened to you?"
"No puedo controlarme", Neville's voice was becoming shriller by the second, "Snape me hizo beber de él. Yo no quería."
"Snape?" Ron said, "What has he done? I was never good at languages... let alone when it's switching every bloody second!"
"Trovare Hermione! Lei mi può aiutare."
"Right well I don't have a bloody clue what he's blabbing about," Said Ron, brushing past a tearful Neville, "What were you saying, Harry?"
"Ermm, shouldn't we-" Began Harry gesturing towards the panic stricken boy who still continuously babbled in several different languages..
"Nahhh, he'll be fine said Ron," Dragging Harry away towards the castle, "Someone will find him...eventually."
Harry reluctantly followed, glancing back at poor Neville who was already running after a petrified looking first year, who dropped his books and headed straight in the opposite direction at top speed.
"Umm... anyway," Continued Harry, shaking his head, "I need to talk to you... about... well you know I've been on that wizardnet chat thing a lot?"
"Oh jeez," Said Ron, snorting in amusement, "You're not still on it with that girl are you? After the whole Cho encounter when I bailed you out I thought you'd left it!"
"We just talk, that's all," Replied Harry defensively, speeding up and walking ahead of Ron.
If Ron was just going to take the piss, there was simply no point in talking to him. He pushed his way through the enormous doors and made his way to the great hall for lunch.
Ron jogged to keep up with him, shouting out amused apologies until he finally caught up with Harry as he sat down for lunch at the Gryffindor table.
"You speedy bastard," Ron muttered, sliding onto the bench next to Harry."
"Are you going to stop being a prat now?" Harry asked, helping himself to a sandwich.
"Yup," Replied Ron, helping himself to several sandwiches and tucking in straight away, "So what's with this girl then?"
"Well that's just it, I don't know. I don't even know her real name, just her username – FireGirl: What does that even mean? I just know that she's... well she's different. She's not like the crazy groupie girls. She's-"
"Well of course, you met her on the wizardnet" Said Ron, as though it was obvious, "That's because she doesn't know who you are. As soon as you mention the words ' .lived' she'll go psycho-bitch like the rest of them."
"I don't think so..." Murmured Harry, "She's pretty down to earth. And she's really funny too; she tells me all these stories of pranks she played on her brother, though by the sounds of it he deserved it! She makes me laugh and... what... why are you staring at me?"
Ron has stopped pigging out and was giving Harry a very odd look.
"You like her," It was more of a statement than a question.
"What? I.. No.. Ummm," Harry felt incredibly uncomfortable and awkward. He suddenly didn't want to discuss mystery girl anymore.
"Harry?" Said Hermione curiously as she sat down opposite the boys, "Why in the name of Merlin is your face such an alarming shade of red?"
Harry ducked his head under the table, to pick up some imaginary cutlery in an attempt to avoid Hermione's scrutinising stares.
"Well basically," Began Ron, "Harry's gone loo-la over some gir– OUCH!"
Harry emerged from under the table after shooting a sneaky stinging hex at Ron's leg. He glared at his best friend for not being able to hold his secret for even five minutes.
"What the bloody hell was that for?" Ron exclaimed loudly, rubbing his painful leg.
Harry rolled his eyes, murmured a quick goodbye to the pair before retreating to Gryffindor Tower, so as to avoid any further embarrassment.
"Oh Ron," Said Hermione in exasperation, "You really need to learn the art of tactics and discretion."
"Well it's not my fault he's a moody, unpredictable hormone bag of teen angst!" Muttered Ron, holding back a grin, "Must be his time of the month."
Hermione sighed, wondering not for the first time how such a silly buffoon could make her feel so much affection.
She shook her head and, for the sake of Harry's dignity (whatever the matter was), changed the subject.
...
Little did Harry and Ron realised that their conversation before Hermione's appearance had been a little less private than they had planned.
Sitting close by at the Ravenclaw table, Cho Chang got up, having heard every word the two boys had said, headed out, a sly, victorious smile spreading slowly across her pretty face.
Her mind was already flicking through multiple plans as to how to use this information. This time, she would make things go her way, on her terms.
...
"If I couldn't have your attention for a minute Gryffindors," Said Hermione as she stood on a chair in the common room, trying to get the attention of the rest of her house, "I have an announcement I need to make."
Not for the first time, the majority of people ignored her, and continued with their evening activities.
For the second time within a few months, Ron stood up from his favourite squishy armchair, abandoning his and Harry's game of wizard chess, stuck his thumb and forefinger in his mouth and emitted an ear-splitting whistle that had every groaning, but paying attention none-the-less.
Fred and George open their mouths to mock Ron's galance for Hermione once again, but Hermione silenced them with a flick of her wand before they could coo their first 'awwwh'. The twins sat down dejectedly, shooting evils at Hermione.
"Thanks Ron," Muttered Hermione gratefully, "As you know, Christmas holidays begin next week, and I know most of you will be going home. But I've been told to announce the New Years Eve party will be taking place when you all come back."
"Hogwarts NYE parties always suck ass though!" Said Lavender loudly, grabbing everyone's attention, "Last year everyone left before it was even midnight! I was in bed by 10pm"
"She's right, it really did suck ass" Agreed Parvatie, "Last year was beyond boring. So was the year before and the year before and the year before and -"
"Okay we get the message," Snapped Hermione, drawing Gryffindor Towers attention back to the point, "Well this year, Professor Dumbledore has taken previous celebrations and their 'ass sucking' into consideration to make this year different."
A few people paid closer attention now. No true Gryffindor missed out on a good reason to have a party.
"This year, the Hogwarts social committee have organised-"
"I didn't know we even had a social committee..." Muttered Parvatie.
"Well we do so shut up!" Snarled Hermione, causing Parvatie to jump and blush deeply, "As I was saying, the social committee have suggested we have a masked party in the style of our founders in remembrance and celebration of their achievements. That means we'll have old fashioned, periodic decorations around the great hall, and you are all to come in dress robes according to the time."
"Ohhh it'll be like a fairytale!" Squealed Parvatie, unable to contain herself.
A few Gryffindors moaned at the theme, detesting the cheesiness it emitted.
"There is a rule however; masks must not be taken off until midnight. Once your mask is on, and you've entered the Great Hall, a charm will come into place and you will be unable to remove your mask unless there is the case of emergency. Oh and one more thing," Continued Hermione through the excited chatter of the crowd," Dumbledore's booked the Weird Sisters to play. After all, we have to have some modern aspects!"
Hermione hopped down from the chair, enjoying the excitement she'd caused, before remembering she had one more announcement to make in request from Professor McGonagall.
"Oh and one last thing," She said loudly, "Neville Longbottom was found hiding in greenhouse six earlier today in rather a bad condition. It would appear he has taken some form of potion that has had an odd affect on him. I would like to ask anybody who is fluent in German, French, Spanish and Italian to please step forward and visit the hospital wing asap. Madam Pomfrey is having some trouble with...erm... translations.
Ginny shifted uncomfortably in her seat whilst Ron and Harry exchanged guilt glances.
"It is rather an emergency, Neville is rather distressed. It would appear he was unaware of his multilingual skills until today..."
A few giggles erupted, as a rather pompous looking 4th year stood up and started striding towards the hospital wing, mumbling something under his breath about his talents finally being appreciated.
"Pompous bastard," Muttered Ron under his breath, sticking a foot out in a failed attempt to trip the boy up, "Neville doesn't stand a chance!"
...
In the darkness of the night, a light illuminated a window high up in a tower of Hogwarts castle. In the Gryffindor 6th year boys dormitory, Harry Potter sat on his bed, wide awake scribbling away at his wizardnet parchment, having finally made a decision that had been bugging him for days. It was time to step up, and go to the one person who always had answers.
In an identical situation, just a few metres away, Ginny Weasley also sat up at her desk in the 5th years girls dormitory, writing as quickly as she could on her enchanted paper to the friend she knew could settle her mind. She had finally decided to go to the one person who always gave the right advice.
...
The next morning, Hermione was deep in a dream about baking her favourite banana-pecan muffins with her mother at home. The oven was beeping relentlessly, signalling that her treats were cooked to perfection. But the beeping was getting louder. No matter how many times Hermione stopped the over timer, the beeping persisted and got louder and louder and louder and-
"AGHH!" Yelped Hermione as she jolted awake, hitting her head on the bedpost.
Sharp pain shot through her head as she rubbed her bleary eyes, utterly bewildered as to why she could still hear a beeping sound. She grumbled, remembering the almost-smell of those delicious muffins.
She sat up slowly, and finally noticed her wizardnet parchment on her bedside table, bleeping continuously to alert her of a new m-mail message.
"Stupid technology," She muttered under her breath, wrapping herself in her fluffy dressing gown.
Picking up the parchment, she tapped it with her wand to relieve the infuriated noise, and saw she had two new notifications, which she read speedily.
To: Bookworm-wizardnet
From: SnitchBoy-wizardnet
Hermione,
I've been thinking about this for ages, and to put it bluntly: Ron is shit with advice, and you're one of my best friends (the only one who hasn't got the prat gene). I met a girl on the wizardnet chat (don't rant at me about the dangers of the wizardnet – I'm a big boy and I can handle myself!).
In a nutshell, she's great. She's funny, down to earth and she's not a mentalist like the rest of the girls out there. Only catch is, I have no idea who she is, and I don't know what to do. Do I come straight out and ask her who she is, or will that scare her off? Or am I just being downright stupid obsessing over some girl I've never met?
Help me oh mighty know-it-all! You're my only hope for sanity!
Harry
To: Bookworm-wizardnet
From: FireGirl-wizardnet
Hermione
I know we're not super close, but ever since you've been friends with Ron, you always told me if I needed some girl-time then I could come to you. Well that time has come. Before you start ranting about WN safety, I know what I'm doing. I met a guy on wizardnet chat. An awesome guy. A guy that makes me feel like the ten year old me, blushing over a silly crush. A guy that... well I don't exactly know.
I can't ask him who he is; he seems like the kind of person who finds it hard to let people in. What should I do? Should I stop talking to him and find a guy who I can have a face to face conversation with? Or is this special, something I should hold on to?
You're the only girl I can ask about this. Luna... well she thinks the wizardnet pixel pixies have infested my mind and tries to purify me with fire whenever I mention it... please help!
Ginny
Hermione smiled at her two friends, not taking two seconds to do the maths and put 2 + 2 together. Luckily for Hermione, numbers were one of her many strong points and she immediately drafted out a reply that could be sent to both Harry and Ginny, making sure to make the recipients private so neither would recognise the username.
To: SnitchBoy-wizardnet; FireGirl-wizardnet
From: Bookworm-wizardnet
Right, here goes...
Firstly, don't just assume I'll go into a 'rant' about wizardnet safety! I'm merely going to point out that despite the chat system allows Hogwarts residents only to communicate, it can still be risky. You have no idea who you're talking to, and you can never be too careful!
Now that's over with, I'm so happy to hear that you've finally found someone that you think you could take a chance with. You've not exactly had the best luck so far...
My duties as a prefect say that I'm to advertise and encourage as many students as I can to attend the New Year's Eve party after the holidays, so why not ask this mystery person to meet you at the party. It'll be a big crowd (safety in numbers!) and you'll be wearing masks so you won't have to jump straight in to a face to face conversation! Personally, I think it would be a good step to take.
Anyway, I'm glad you have so much faith in my advice, but all I can say would be don't get your hopes up. Remember, this person could be anybody.
Hermione
Quickly sending the message with a tap of her wand, Hermione nodded to herself, admiring her skills in writing one letter to apply to both recipients.
"Ron's really not going to be pleased about this..." She thought to herself, smiling ever so slightly at the thought of Ron finding out his best friend and his little sister were in the middle of a new-age, technological romance.
...
Back in their individual dormitories, both Harry and Ginny both rolled their eyes simultaneously at Hermione's consistent ability to put things into perspective so easily.
They set about getting ready for morning classes, an identical smile playing at both of their lips, representing their upcoming plans.
...
Authors Notes: I will apologise now for the floods of abuse at the horrific use of foreign language at the start of this chapter! I have very limited language skills, so I simply used an online translator. It is not key to the plot, and I'm aware it will probably be inaccurate, but it is not all that important. Anyway, Neville had just taken a befuddlement draft – not wonder his language skills were a little off! Enjoy my lovelies, and please review!