Number 126: I am not allowed to declare an official Hug A Slytherin day.

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"How?" Ginny lay flat on her back on the floor in front of the fireplace in the Gryffindor common room. "How the hell were we not questioned over this mess?"

Hermione snorted, furiously scribbling on a bit of parchment in front of her. "We were locked up in the Hospital Wing when the madness was going on. There was no way they could pin it on us."

Ron continued smiling goofily at the wall as he remembered their trek from the Hospital Wing to the tower. "Filch crying; purple and red Mrs. Norris; drawings on the walls; teachers covered in paint." He giggled quietly to himself.

"Besides," Harry added, smirking. "They checked the entire house for evidence before releasing us and found nothing."

Lavender sat straight up in her chair. "What? They did what?"

Harry nodded. "They tripped the sensors I had around our room. Ten bucks they checked the girls' room too."

"They searched our rooms?" Hermione demanded. Harry nodded again. Her eyes narrowed as she resumed her furious scribbling. "Violation of our civil liberties…" Seamus sighed happily.

"So what now?" Parvati asked finally.

Harry stood up and stretched. "Well, I'm off to the Hufflepuffs to spread the word." He turned to Luna. "You'll do the same with the Ravenclaws, yeah?" Luna nodded dreamily, running her fingers through her still painted hair.

Ginny propped herself up on her elbows. "What are we getting ready for?"

He grinned at her casual usage of the plural pronoun. "Tomorrow is the start of the first ever 'Hug A Slytherin' day."

Ron snapped out of his musings to gape at Harry. "The first what?"

"The first 'Hug A Slytherin' Day," he calmly repeated.

Lavender burst out laughing. "Draco's reward for covering our asses?" Harry smirked.

It was hard pressed to accurately describe the look on Draco's face when Harry sauntered into breakfast the next day, walked straight up to the sexy Slytherin, and plopped himself down in Draco's lap before wrapping his arms around the blonds neck and squeezing. Draco froze; wondering belatedly why half the hall seemed to be smiling at them almost affectionately. "Uh, Potter?" Harry seemed disinclined to answer, however, and simply snuggled his face closer to Draco's neck. After a few minutes Draco shrugged, wrapped one arm around Harry's waist, and resumed his conversation with Blaise as though having a Gryffindor fling themselves upon his person was a routine occurrence.

Luna Lovegood caused quite a jam in the fourth floor corridor by grabbing Gregory Goyle and pulling him into a fierce kiss. "Hug, Luna," Ginny reminded her gently, disengaging the blonde from the startled Slytherin and pulling her down the hall. "Today is hug a Slytherin day, not snog one."

The blonde waved her hands vaguely. "Details."

Dean approached Theodore Nott in the Library. "Oi, Ted!" The twitchy Slytherin looked up cautiously; slightly frightened by the level of attention his housemates were receiving today. Dean wrapped his arms around the thin shoulders and solemnly quoted; "All the little pieces falling, shatter. Shards of me, too sharp to put back together. Too small to matter, but big enough to cut me into so many little pieces." He winked at the slightly confused boy. "I know tons of depressing lyrics. Anytime you wanna hang out and contemplate the size of the world, just let me know." He thumped Theodore on the back and flashed the peace sign before turning to walk away. "Don't let the snakes eat you in your sleep, man!"

Several brightly colored hexes followed a group of terrified third years as they raced screaming down the hall. Ron and Hermione stopped walking and stared as they shot past like they had seen the Grim himself. Neville was walking down the hall after them, laughing so hard he was crying. "What on earth happened?" Hermione looked torn between docking points for running in the halls or stopping to have a bit of a gossip.

"They," Neville's breath hitched, tears sliding unchecked down his cheeks. "They hugged Snape!" Still howling, he continued off down the halls.

Hermione's chin squared. She whipped her parchment out of her bag. "Throwing curses unchecked, with the possibility of severely hurting or maiming an unspecified amount of innocent bystanders…"

Ron managed to suck up his courage to hug a Slytherin when he saw Pansy and Daphne skulking through the halls to class. Taking a deep breath, he leaned forward and wrapped his arms around Daphne. "Happy hug a Slytherin day!"

Unfortunately, for Ron, Slytherins were not used to physical contact with, to them, inferior beings. Slytherin house as a whole was on high alert to remain safe from whatever sickness had invaded their peers; inducing the need for physical contact. Also, unfortunately, for Ron, Harry rather liked Daphne's attitude and had inducted her into Fight Club almost two weeks ago. When Daphne felt the arms slide around her from behind, she shrieked, bent her knees, and used her position to grab Ron's arm and flip him over her shoulder. Ron hit the ground hard.

Pansy, seeing a large mass of quivering red come flying from in between her and her friend, promptly whipped out her wand and fired off a quick succession of curses before dropping into a defensive pose. Daphne raised her arms in an intimidating manner, like a Muggle boxer, and yelled out "Ai-Ah!"

Hermione sighed, approaching the scene and removing the hexes from Ron. "Honestly ladies, you'd already flipped him onto the floor. Did you really need the hexes?"

Daphne glowered. "Stupid Gryffindor. He was a threat. You do not stake your life on the fact that a temporary loss of breath may or may not incapacitate your opponent."

"Seriously, Weasel," Pansy added. "Don't sneak up on people." That said, the two girls flounced off.

Ron whimpered as Hermione hauled him to his feet. "I just wanted to hug them."

"I know Ronald," she soothed, patting his arm in a calming manner. "I know. Just… it's best to approach a Slytherin from the front."

Ron went pale. "I have to hug another Slytherin?"

Hermione laughed. "No, no. You reached your quota."

He heaved a very deep sigh of relief. "Someone should tell Harry you only need to hug a Slytherin once."

"What do you mean?"

Ron gestured over her shoulder. Hermione turned and saw Draco and Harry pressed together in an alcove across the hall. Harry had his arms wrapped tightly around Draco, who, in turn, seemed to be doing his best to shove Harry into the wall. Ron shook his head. "Vicious creatures, those Slytherins."

As if on cue, Draco slid his fingers through Harry's hair and pulled the brunette's head back before latching his mouth onto Harry's pulse point. Harry moaned.

"Oh, never mind," Ron said dismissively, turning to walk away. "Malfoy just needed to bite Harry's neck again." Hermione just shook her head and followed the red head down the hall.