DON'T PRETEND YOU LOVE ME
CHAPTER 10
THAT STUPID DREAM SEQUENCE
Monday came. Harry, Hermione and Ron were walking along the corridors to Transfiguration after a day's class at Care of Magical Creatures. He managed to have a nice chat with Draco while he was studying that Dragon dung Hagrid told them to do. His insults nowadays have been...you know...lame. What the hell is he talking about when he said…
"Potter, You're...stupid."
"What does he think I am, a nine year old? Did he expect me to cry?" He asked himself.
He suddenly stopped when he noticed someone walking towards them.
"Sirius?" asked Harry.
"Oh, hey there Harry." greeted Sirius.
"Why aren't you dressed yet?" asked Hermione, glancing Sirius who was still wearing his bed-robe with coffee in hand.
"Dressed? I don't have to work for three more hours." said Sirius.
"What are you talking about Sirius? We're on our way to your class right now." said Ron.
"What! But my clock said...my clock said..." Sirius's eyes narrowed. "Snape." he said darkly.
"Well, well, if it isn't our new Transfiguration teacher, Professor Black." came Snape behind Sirius. "Hmmm, that doesn't seem to sink well in to my stomach." said Snape.
"Sink in to your stomach?" Sirius repeated. "How about I sink my fist to your stomach you greasy, little pecker. You screwed with my alarm clock?" snarled Sirius.
"Your clock? I've been looking for that bloody thing ever since you arrived here. And like the criminal you are, you don't seem to have a problem rummaging my room to find something to steal." said Snape.
"What is going on around here?" said Lupin who just came along. "Sirius, do you think your students will take you seriously when you're dressed like that?"
"Wait a minute," said Snape. "That's mine too."
"Alright, who did what to who?" asked Lupin.
"He started it." said Sirius and Snape as they pointed at one another.
Harry noticed that several students were now piling in watching in what seems to be a pure entertainment.
"By the way Snape, I didn't know that you were a Michael Jackson fan." said Sirius with a malicious grin on his face.
"Shut up! You sick excuse for a house hold pet. Before I conjure a roll of newspaper and whack you with it like a bad dog you are." snarled Snape.
"Oh by the way Snape, I didn't know what those letters on your smiley spotted pajama pants means. M. J.? You sure it doesn't stand for Master Jerker!" said Sirius.
"Listen here, house pet. If it wasn't for Dumbledore, you wouldn't be in this School in the first place. You Rin-Tin-tin wannabe!" said Snape.
"Take it from the guy whose longest relationship is with his hair products. Is it true that they dumped you?" said Sirius.
"You're one to talk. Tell me Black, how's your boyfriends from Azkaban doing?" said Snape
"This, coming from the man with the Michael Jackson shrine, you Freaking Psycho!" said Sirius.
"Sirius! Sirius! I think you should be the bigger man and walk away." said Lupin.
"He started it!" yelled Sirius who was pointing at Snape. Snape crossed his arms and his eyes narrowed at him.
"That's right Sirius, and like the mature men that we are, we're just going to ignore these kinds of-"before Lupin could even finish, Snape had struck again.
"That's right Black, do indeed follow the advice of your boyfriend here. Go ahead and walk away...You smelly pile of dog droppings." said Snape.
"Dog droppings? Dog droppings!" yelled Sirius.
Lupin rolled his eyes "You just couldn't let it go huh, Snape, you just couldn't let it go pass you." said Lupin.
"Listen here you pathetic insect! If Dumbledore hadn't banned my wand to throw courses at you, you would be balancing on a rubber ball while wearing a tutu right now!" said Sirius.
Snape placed his hands at his sides. "Do go on ahead Black, I'm shaking like a leaf."
"How about you put you hands inside your pants and shake your own." said Sirius.
"I think you should go and pee on a tree." said Snape.
"And I think you're gay!" said Sirius.
"Are you questioning my manhood!" roared Snape.
"Manhood? What manhood?" said Sirius.
"Sirius! Severus! You're acting like children for Merlin's sakes!" said Lupin.
"SHUT UP!" shouted Sirius and Snape in unison.
Lupin suddenly looked offended "What! Bu... but, FINE! SUIT YOU'RE SELVES" he turned around and stormed away as he muttered unkind things to the two under his breath.
"What seems to be the problem here?" came Dumbledore's voice.
Both Sirius and Snape turned to see him standing besides them.
"Nothing Professor, Sirius and I were just having a debate." said Snape.
"About what?" said Dumbledore.
Sirius started stuttering. He was having difficulties to quickly scoop up a lie to tell Dumbledore.
"Err, about global warming Professor. We were just debating about global warming." said Sirius.
"Global warming?" said Dumbledore.
"Yes Professor, it think that it's something to be aware about, and Snape thinks it doesn't exist."
Dumbledore raised an eyebrow indicating that he was not buying it.
"It's true, Professor." said Sirius as tried to convince a skeptical headmaster. "Right, Harry?"
Sirius whirled around to Harry only to find a bunch of students crowded around them with popcorn and drinks in hand. Even Draco was there to see the entertainment that is Sirius Black versus Severus Snape.
"No need to explain further Sirius. You better go and get dressed for your class right away." said Dumbledore
"Right away, Professor." said Sirius before getting ready to Disapparate. He paused for a while then came to his senses. "Oh sorry, I forgot you can't do that in here." he left and so did Snape.
"All right, all of you. You should all get to your own classes now." said Dumbledore and immediately the students went on their way.
Then the Headmaster called Lupin who was just about to leave.
"Remus, a word if you please." said Dumbledore.
"What is it Professor?" asked Lupin.
"Would you to do me a favor?" said Dumbledore.
"Anything Professor." said Lupin.
"Swell. What I'd like you to do is to keep watch on those two." said Dumbledore.
"What! But Professor, I—"
"Thank you Remus," said Dumbledore before walking off.
"Oh crap." sighed Lupin.
Lupin was left there with his mouth hanging agape. He couldn't believe that he has just been bamboozled by the Headmaster of Hogwarts.
After an exhausting day, the three returned to the Gryffindor common room where they hang out for a bit. They talked about the buzz of the day which was Sirius and Snape going to war on each other the whole day.
A Second year boy told them that during Potions, Sirius kicked the door and read passages from Snape's journal. The boy told them that the journal mentioned sported a picture of Michael Jackson on the cover.
Agatha Tolkin meanwhile, told them that Snape slip a potion in Sirius' drink that made him jump up the teacher's table and re-enacted and sang the song 'I'm a Little Tea Pot.'
"Do you think we should do something?" she asked the two.
"No." the two flat out replied.
"Fine." she snapped as she checked her Astronomy homework.
"I'm turning in." said Ron slapping Harry's leg as he got up the couch, leaving the two completely alone.
Harry yawned. "You're not turning in yet?" he asked her.
She checked her watch and stretched her arms. "I guess so."
They picked up their bags on the floor (Harry picking Ron's up as well) and headed for the staircase leading to the dorm rooms where they bid each other goodnight.
It was a strange peculiar feeling looking at her. How she still looked amazing at the end of the day. Harry knew that there was something changing deep inside of him. He just wished he knew what. All knew was he can't look at his best friend the same way as before.
"Why do I want to hug her?" he asked himself.
It was a good thing that he and Hermione always take their lockets off at the end of the day. They didn't need them when they go to sleep. Or else, she would have heard things in his head that she wouldn't understand.
Hermione rubbed her eyes, trying to stay awake. "Something wrong?"
"Err…no-no."
"Okay, goodnight." She bid him as she leaned close and kissed him on the cheek.
She then dragged herself to the girl's staircase where she disappeared behind the door.
"Stupid door." Harry muttered.
He then arrived at the boy's Seventh year dorm room, where he quickly changed to his sleepwear and collapsed on his bed.
*** DREAM SEQUENCE
Harry opened his eyes, only to see that he was on a stage in front of hundreds of audiences. He turned around and saw a title on the wall 'Wizards are from Mars, Witches are from Venus.'
And then a familiar voice of a former teacher came out of nowhere.
"Welcome everyone! I'm you're host as usual, Gilderoy Lockhart and you're watching Wizards are from Mars, Witches are from Venus." said Lockhart.
APPLAUSE!
"Tonight's guest is known as the Boy-Who-Lived and the Boy-Who-Defeated-The- Dark-Lord. The famous-just like me… Harry Potter!" said Lockhart.
APPLAUSE!
Harry suddenly realized that he was in the middle of the set. He looked around and a chair suddenly popped out of nowhere. He didn't know why but he sat on it as though he was on cue.
"What the hell am I doing here?" asked Harry.
"You're here to answer some of our questions, Harry." said Lockhart.
Harry tried to protest but Lockhart was to quick for him.
"So Harry, Defeated the Dark Lord, saved the whole Wizardry world and those other boring stuff Blah-Blah-Blah." said Lockhart lazily "What we really want to know is about… your love life."
The audience cooed.
"What!"
Lockhart was checking some notes on his hand. "Tell us, Harry. Who's Cho Chang?"
"She was just someone I had a crush on. She was a year ahead of me. But it was just a crush. I'm over her." said Harry defensively.
"It also says here that you are now secretly in love with your best friend Hermione Granger… though you are just pretending at first. Now your feelings for her are now becoming as more than a friend. Am I correct?" said Lockhart.
The audience cooed once more as Harry thought they all deserved to be punched in the face.
"What! That's not- I mean-how did you know that we were pretending to be- "
"This is your dream, Harry. Anything's possible." said Lockhart.
"If it's my dream, why can't I control it?" asked Harry now sweating.
"Well Harry, this is one of those dreams you don't have control over. Now back to the subject, to make things more interesting, let's bring her out. Please welcome Hermione Granger." said Lockhart.
APPLAUSE!
Hermione walked out into the set looking puzzled. She sat down on a chair next to Harry.
"Harry, what's going on? Why are we here? And what's Gilderoy Lockhart doing?" asked Hermione. "I was dreaming handing the bill for House elf rights to the Ministry of Magic…the next thing I know, I was coming out of those curtains."
"Hermione I can explain, I-"
"And let's not forget about your other best friend Ronald. Also known as Ron Weasley!" said Lockhart.
APPLAUSE!
Ron walked out of the curtains also looking puzzled then sat down besides Harry.
"Harry, Hermione, what the bloody hell are we doing here?" whispered Ron.
"I don't know, Ron. That's why I'm here to find out." said Hermione.
Lockhart ran through his notes. "It says here that you two have other issues aside from Harry here, am I right? Let's start with you." said Lockhart nodding at Ron.
"Wait, I mean-what the hell is all these?" protested Ron.
"It says here (still looking at his notes) that you have mixed feelings with a girl that is in your same house. Tell us, how it feels?" asked Lockhart.
"I'm not telling you anything, you big jerk." said Ron.
"My, my, such language, who ever raised you Ronald?" said Lockhart with a false offense look on his face.
"My parents!" snarled Ron "And it's Ron!"
"Your parents, huh? Well for the sake of Ron here, let's bring out his parents and all of his siblings!" said Lockhart.
"What!" said Ron who jumped from his seat and turned to the curtains behind him and saw his parents Mr. And Mrs. Weasley and his five older brothers and his youngest baby sister. Red hair, freckles and all.
"Please give them a big applause." said Lockhart. "Mr. Arthur Weasley, Mrs. Molly Weasley, Bill, Charlie, Percy, Fred, George and Ginny Weasley!"
All of the Weasleys sat down including Ron.
"What on earth?" started Mr. Weasley.
"Hey, I know what this is. It's that show called Wizards are from Mars, Witches are from Venus." said Ginny.
"Did you say Witches are from Pe-"
"Shut up Fred!" snapped Ginny (Fred and George chuckled)
"You're acting like ten year olds." muttered Percy.
"Nice place you got here, Ron." said Charlie.
"I don't own it! Cant you see I'm being held captive or as they think of it, a guest." said Ron.
"What are we doing here?" Mrs. Weasley asked Lockhart.
"Well Molly… can I call you Molly? Of course I can. Ron here has something to tell you." said Lockhart.
"Ron?" asked Mrs. Weasley.
"Ron here has special interest with two girls." said Lockhart.
"Yeah, Ron." cheered Charlie (Bill gave him a sharp look while Ron flushed)
"And twins if I might say so." said Lockhart
"Go, Ron!" cheered Charlie again (Bill gave him another glare)
"Wait a minute. Did you say twins?" said Fred.
"The only twins I know in that school are-"started Percy.
"Parvati and Padma Patil!" said George.
Ron turned- if possible, even redder "Wait-wait. I can explain." said Ron.
"Parvati and Padma huh? I'm gonna have a little talk with them after this." said Ginny sounding a little protective.
"You should talk! You have a boyfriend and you didn't tell me!" yelled Ron.
"What!" shouted all the Weasley boys at the same time (except Ron)
"Ginny!" said Mrs. Weasley sounding shocked.
Ginny turned red "Mum, I...I...I...I can explain this… really." stuttered Ginny.
"And who might this man be?" asked Charlie sounding dangerous.
"Well his name is-"started Ginny
"It's Neville!" yelled Ron.
"What?" said Fred and George at the same time.
"You mean that toad boy?" said Percy.
"The same one." said Ron bitterly.
"I don't know who this Neville is, but I want to have little talk with him." said Bill.
"Not before I have a talk with him first." said Charlie.
"Forget it! I'm not going to have a brother in law like him." said Percy.
"I know, that's why I'm going to have a little talk with him Perce." said Bill.
"Who said he's going to be your brother in law?" protested Ginny "Ron has twins on his hands."
"That's my brother!" Charlie cheered once more. He attempted to stand up and give Ron a high five, but Bill grabbed his robes and dragged him back down to his seat. "Sorry, got carried away."
"Ron, what's the deal about these girls?" asked Mr. Weasley, having a hard time not to smile.
"I...I..."
"It's alright Ron, it's just a dream. It will be all over when you wake up." said Lockhart.
"If that's the case then, uh... this girl Padma, she's from Ravenclaw." Ron started.
"Yeah Ron!" cheered Charlie.
"Charlie, don't make me hit you." said Bill calmly.
"Sorry." said Charlie, but his meaningful grins were still visible to Ron which he tried to ignore.
"I mean… I really like her. But there's her twin Parvati - and she's... well, been throwing herself at me. And I think I like her too. And now I'm all going insane." said Ron.
"Ron it's perfectly natural for this things to happen." said Mr. Weasley.
Mrs. Weasley started to sob "I can't believe that their all grown ups now Arthur. It seems like yesterday that we were dropping off Bill at King's Cross."
Bill rolled his eyes "Here we go again." he muttered.
"Or buying Charlie his first broom (sniff), getting Percy his (sniff) first books and buying (sniff) Fred and George their school robes. They'll all leave me Arthur (sniff), and I don't want that to happen! Wahhhhhh!" wailed Mrs. Weasley
"Mum, cut it out." whispered Charlie.
"Honey, don't cry." said Mr. Weasley as he patted her on the back.
"Ohhhhh. How heart warming. Well since were at the subject of growing up… let's bring out the man who seems never wanting to. Please welcome... Sirius Black and his best friend Remus Lupin!" said Lockhart. Sirius and Lupin walked out of the curtains and sat down.
"Can somebody tell me what's happening around here." said Lupin.
"Hey there, Remus." greeted Bill. "Don't have much to tell you. All I know is were in somebody's dream." he explained.
"Hello there, Mr. Black. Welcome to my show." said Lockhart.
"Oooooooookay, since this is just someone's dream, I'll go along with you." said Sirius.
"See folks? What did I tell you." said Lockhart. "It says here (still looking at his notes) that you were the biggest bully that walked Hogwarts since you went there, is that true?" asked Lockhart.
"That's not true!" said an offended Sirius. "James was the bigger bully." Lupin rolled his eyes.
Harry covered his face with his hands.
He was embarrassed that his face must have been as red as the Weasley's hair.. Ron was busy ignoring Charlie's thumbs up, while Bill was busy tying to get his mother to stop crying. Hermione was occupied on examining the set. Ginny was still giving Percy the cold shoulder because of what he said about Neville earlier while Fred and George were in deep conversation.
(A\N: I don't know why really.)
"Well we'll see about that." said Lockhart "I'd like all of you to meet the man that Mr. Black had bullied...Severus Snape!"
Snape entered the set of Lockhart's show. The minute he saw Sirius, he quickly rummaged his pockets for his wand but something was wrong. His wand was missing. Sirius felt for his wand at the same time in his pocket.
"Where's my wand!" yelled Sirius.
"Black! What did you do to my wand!" roared Snape.
"Now, now you two, we didn't waste time to get all of you here just to let you throw hexes at each other." said Lockhart. "Now would you please sit down Mr. Snape?"
Snape sat down. Though, he still glared at Sirius as though he might curse him while he's not looking.
"Now since the subject is now on bullying someone, let's bring out someone of Harry's own age. Please welcome Draco Malfoy and the boy he bullied, Neville Longbottom!" said Lockhart.
Draco and Neville walked out of the curtains. All the Weasley boys turned to Neville with lethal looks that was enough to unnerve Neville who sat down next to Lupin. Draco on the other hand, walked right next to Snape and sat down.
"What the-"Draco started
"-Hell are you doing here, I know, I know, it's not the first time I've been asked that." said Harry.
"Stop finishing my sentences, Potter. You're not my boyfriend!" Draco snapped at him.
"What am I doing here? Explain!" Snape demanded.
"You're inside a dream Mr. Snape," said Lockhart.
"Well, since this place is not filled with one legged hookers. I'm guessing that this is not Black's dream."
"And since there's no single naked boy in sight, I'm guessing it's not yours either." Sirius countered.
"If it's not these two, whose dream can it be?" Ginny asked Lockhart.
Snape turned to Harry and stared at him.
"You sick disturbed, little boy." said Snape acidly
"What?"
"Potter! Explain yourself! Why on earth are we inside your dream!" yet again, Snape demanded.
"Who told you it was mine?" said Harry.
"Oh I know it's you, Potter. The name Potter is always the root of all evil. If you don't believe me, ask THEM!" said Snape pointing at Sirius and Lupin.
"Keep pointing your grimy fingers at me Snape, and I'll make sure that you'll be missing some." said Sirius.
"Or what? You'd bite me and give me rabies? Who do you think you are? Hah, answer me!" said Snape.
"I have a gesture though, but I don't think it would be appropriate to do so since were at the presence of children." said Sirius.
"Who are you calling children!" said Ron.
"I have a few pointers for you little bro…" said Charlie.
"Charlie, would you give it a rest already." said Bill.
"Right, sorry." said Charlie.
"Mr. Snape." said Lockhart.
"It's Professor to you, Lockhart!" snarled Snape.
"Well then, Professor." said Lockhart shrugging.
"Don't mind him, he's always like that. It's his weird way of reaching out." said Lupin.
"Very well, Professor Snape, how does it feel to be always picked on?" asked Lockhart.
Snape leaned forward, "How do you think it feels—"
All of a sudden, a weird sort of music came out of nowhere causing a strange affect on the Potions Master.
"Wait, what's this! There's something strange happening, I feel like... I feel like... (Sniff, sniff) I'm going to… cry."
Snape quickly snatched the tissue which appeared out of thin air.
"It's so hard enough (sniff) having no friends (sniff) but it's even harder when kids always make fun of you (sniff) even if you did absolutely nothing (sniff) Wahhhhhh!" wailed Snape.
"Mr. Black, have you got anything to say?" said Lockhart.
Surprisingly, Sirius is now starting to be infected of the strange music's charm as well.
"Snape (sniff) I didn't know (sniff) you have to understand (sniff) about my mother, (sniff) she's always (sniff) giving me a hard time (sniff) I mean (sniff) doing that to you (sniff) might have been the way (sniff) I could lash it all out (sniff) I'm sorry!"
"All I wanted was friendship! Waaaaahhhhhhh!" wailed Snape.
"I said I was sorry! Waaaahhhhh!" wailed Sirius.
"I should have stopped them (sniff) I should have done what was right (sniff) I should have... I should have... OH MY GOD! I'M SUCH A WORTHLESS FOOL! Waaahhhh!" wailed Lupin.
"Ah, Neville, what do you feel about being bullied by Draco?" Lockhart asked him as ignored the cries of the three.
"Me? I don't know, I got over it I guess," said Neville simply.
"How about you Draco, what do you-"Lockhart didn't get to finish his question, the reason was Draco was now staring to cry.
"I did it (sniff) I did all those horrible things (sniff) because (sniff) because (sniff) I WAS NEVER LOVED BY MY OWN FATHER! Waaaahhhh!" wailed Draco
"You were-"started Lockhart but was interrupted when he heard...
"ALL I WANTED WAS ACCEPTANCE! Waaaahhhhh!" wailed Snape.
"I SAID I WAS SORRY!" wailed Sirius.
"CURSE THIS SICKNESS OF MINE!" howled Lupin.
Lockhart cleared his throat "You were never loved by your father, is that what you are saying." asked Lockhart.
"Yes (sniff)," said Draco
"Then let's bring him out here. Draco Malfoy, say hello to your father, everyone please welcome Mr. Lucius Malfoy!" said Lockhart
Lucius Malfoy walked out of the curtains looking snobbish as ever. He then took a sit on one of the chairs.
"Mr. Malfoy, is it true that you never loved your own son?" asked Lockhart
"Who says I ever did?" said Lucius, with that answer; Draco started crying again.
"Nobody loves me! Waaahhh!" wept Draco.
"That's so cruel." said Hermione.
"Cruel would be an understatement." said Ginny.
"I would prefer it if you would call me evil, since that's a nice word I like to hear." said Lucius.
"I used to look up to you (sniff), but now (sniff) I wont let you hurt me again (sniff)" said Draco who was biting his mouth in difficulty of saying those words to his father.
"Oh please." said Lucius rolling his eyes.
"I think we just had enough of that." said Lockhart, and then suddenly, everyone vanished in a blink of an eye. Harry scanned the set only to find that He and Hermione are the only ones who were left behind.
"Going back to our original subject. Hermione, I think Harry has something to tell you." said Lockhart.
Harry paused. He didn't want to open his mouth but a strange force was forcing him to speak.
"Hermione." started Harry.
"What is it, Harry?" asked Hermione who was paying Harry all of her attention, another reason to make Harry sweat even more.
"I... I... I think I'm in love with you." said Harry.
*** END DREAM SEQUENCE
Harry suddenly opened his eyes. He quickly sat up on his bed and started looking around the room for anything strange. He saw Ron, Neville, Seamus and Dean sound asleep. He thought about what he dreamt about, and then something hit him, he had realize something he was so stupid not know of sooner. Harry was in love with his best friend Hermione.
A/N this happens to be my favorite chapter of the bunch.
musichangover: Thanks, tell me what you think about this chapter.
Readerforlife:I have idea who's Anthony or what you agree with him about but thanks for taking the time to review.