DON'T PRETEND YOU LOVE ME
CHAPTER 20
THE TRUTH COMES OUT
They woke up that following morning with regret in the air. They couldn't believe that last night really happened. Ginny broke up with Neville because he couldn't take another second of abuse from her brothers. Parvati, who was hurt and humiliated, blasted Ron of his tactlessness and insensitivity for picking her twin sister despite her devotion. Luna found out that Draco only took notice of her because of a love potion gone wrong. And finally… Hermione misunderstood what Harry told Draco; when he lied to the blonde monkey about only being close to Hermione because of her Uncle.
But now… realization is kicking in. How on Earth could this happen?
None of them barely slept the night, so when it came time for breakfast, all four of them were already awake and dressed up. Decorations in the halls should have been up but they Seamus and Dean told them that The Ball was cancelled due to an argument in the staff. It's not hard to figure out that Sirius and Snape got into another argument again.
When they finally arrived at the Great Hall, the chattering of the place suddenly came to a screeching halt. Everyone's had set upon them.
"Looks like the Centaur is out of the forest bag." muttered Neville.
"What the hell are you looking at?" Draco yelled at the gazing Hufflepuff table.
They immediately looked away in fear. Draco has always mentioned that the Puffs were Slytherin's bitches.
Slowly walking towards the Gryffindor table, Harry saw Derek Dolohov making fun of them from the Slytherin table.
"I never got the chance to ask you how you made them cooperate with you at the game." Harry asked Draco.
"Huh? Oh, nothing a little Imperius Curse can't take care of." whispered Draco to Harry's ear.
"Damn it Draco! That's illegal. If the authorities find out, you'll be spending the rest of your teenage years at Azkaban." whispered Harry.
Draco snorted "Your silly little threats mean nothing to me, Potter." said Draco.
"Harry, why is everyone looking right us?" asked Ron.
"Get over yourself, Weasley. Can't you see that their all looking at Potter here." said Draco.
"Can't you two just shut up for a minute?" said Neville.
"Don't tell me that a little attention makes you uncomfortable, Longbottom? Were you so used to the days that people denied you any thought or interest." said Draco.
"Knock it off, Malfoy." said Ron.
"Don't bother me! I'm on a roll." said Draco, "Maybe you could call your mommy and hide under her skirt where you belong."
When they reached the Gryffindor table, Harry was quick to notice that everyone at the table was looking at him differently. Looks like the events of last night didn't remain in the confines of the Gryffindor tower.
Ron sniffed his armpit thinking that it might be his odor that is getting attention, "All minty here."
"Yes, the sweet smell of you." said Draco sarcastically.
"I don't see, Ginny, Hermione, Parvati or Luna anywhere." said Neville.
"Seamus, why is everyone staring at me?' Harry asked him.
"Well..." Seamus started.
"Because Mr. Potter-" came a voice from behind him.
Harry turned around and saw Hermione's uncle standing right behind him.
Harry quickly got to his feet.
"Mr. Granger sir, I-ah, I was just asking where Hermione was?" asked Harry.
Harry thought Waynard would be a little upset because of their deception. In fact, he expected him to be angry with him seeing that is obvious that everybody knows the truth. But instead, Hermione's uncle was calm and collected. (Noted that he wasn't either of course.)
"No need to fret Mr. Potter. My niece has already told me about everything."
"S-she did?"
"She also told me how much burden she's been for you."
"No, no! It wasn't- she wasn't-"
"Though I wasn't really that surprise. Although brilliant, my niece is known to act in such dim-witted ways."
"That's not true! I-"
"No harm done, Mr. Potter." said Waynard who found his fingernails more worthy of his attention than Harry was. "Well, I'm sorry to bother your breakfast, please continue." said Waynard as he turned around and started to leave.
"Mr. Granger, wait!" Harry called.
"I'm very busy, Mr. Potter. Important, Ravenclaws like me are needed in more important matters. I'm sure a simple Gryffindor like you will have a hard time comprehending." said Waynard.
Suddenly, the students at the Ravenclaw table erupted into claps.
"Oh, shut up!" Draco shouted at the Ravenclaw table.
"Look, I know you're angry at me. And I think that you have the right to be. But please don't be angry with Hermione. She only did all this because she didn't want to hurt your feelings." Harry told Waynard.
"I'm a grown man, Mr. Potter. If she thinks that I will not be able to handle a blow to my emotion, then that just shows that she's not good enough to be a Ravenclaw. She didn't have what it takes… neither do you." Waynard answered back.
Harry looked at Waynard with no sign of intimidation on his face.
"I'm sorry if you feel that way sir, and you're right that I'm never going to match your standards. You see, I don't have my head stuck between my ass!" Harry said straight to Waynard's face.
"Hah! Nice one Potter." he heard Draco say behind him, but he hadn't move an inch. He was still looking Hermione's uncle straight in his eyes without fear.
"Now may I kindly ask? Sir! To know where Hermione is! Sir! Because we have something to discuss on our own! Sir! A discussion, that doesn't include your arrogant nose! Sir! Was that close enough to your standards! Sir! You can't blame me for trying can't you! Sir!" shouted Harry who seemed to get louder every sentence.
"You have the guts, haven't you, Mr. Potter. My niece isn't here as you see. Go find her on your own." said Waynard before walking away.
"Very good Potter! You're learning!" said Draco slapping Harry hard on the back.
"I'm going to die, I just know it." said Harry, his courage quickly fading.
"C'mon mate, let's eat first. We can't think straight with our stomachs empty." said Ron.
Draco snorted, "That's funny, you're always shoving crap in your mouth but your intellect remains the same."
"Shut up." said Ron.
The four of them ate breakfast and finished quickly to avoid all of the gazes at them. Neville suggested that they should take a walk around the courtyard to get some fresh air. They were walking around near the Quidditch pitch when someone blocked their way.
"Look everyone, it's Potter! It seems you proved me right after all, you are a fraud." said Dolohov.
"That's the exact line I would have told you if I was still at there side." Draco whispered to Harry.
"Hi, Dolohov." Harry sarcastically greeted. "By the way, congrats on winning the Quidditch Cup - oh wait, you lost that game."
"Oh, snap." said Ron.
"Nice comeback, Potter." said Draco patting Harry's back.
"Oh, and what do we have here? Draco Malfoy? The washed up-as been. It's great to see you again… loser." said Dolohov.
Draco just smiled at Dolohov. "Oh, come on, Dolohov. If you're going to insult me, at least do it some commitment."
Ron and Neville sniggered behind him.
Dolohov glared at Draco. He turned around and glared at his cronies as well. The reason was because he heard them snigger behind him too. The Slytherins immediately stopped when they saw Dolohov's of fist-to-groin look.
"I see Granger's available now. Maybe I should slip her one." said Dolohov
"Cool, I love watching two chicks make out." said Draco
Harry, Ron and Neville, as well as the rest of the Dolohov's cronies burst into laughter.
"See, that's funny because he made seem like a girl." said Goyle.
"Shut up! I'm a man!" said Dolohov in defense.
"Man-eater." said Neville.
"I'm not even a virgin anymore." said Dolohov.
"How's your ass, then?" asked Harry.
Dolohov gritted his teeth in anger "Your petty, untrue, homosexual insults will be the cause you your-"
"Cause them their what?" Sirius's voice suddenly came.
"Err, bath?" said Dolohov saying the first word that popped in his mind.
"Bath? Okay you four." said Sirius as he turned around to face Harry and the others. "Tell me the truth. Have you all taken showers this morning?"
"Yep." said Neville and Ron.
"No bombs here." said Harry.
"Twice." said Draco.
"This isn't over yet, Potter. You too Malfoy." said Dolohov before stomping away.
"Oh, c'mon, Dolohov! Turn that frown upside down." Draco called.
"That's a really nice move your doing. I really admire that... walking away!" yelled Harry.
Dolohov ignored them but by the way he kicked the ground. Harry would say that he got through to him.
"That's enough you two." said Sirius, the four laughed.
"Sirius, do you know where Hermione is?" asked Harry.
"No Harry, which brings me to the topic that the whole school is raving about today." said Sirius.
"How did everyone find out so quickly." asked Ron.
"Yeah, all we know is Hermione told everything to her uncle and that's about it." said Neville.
"You can send all your thanks to Colin Creevey and his paper The Hogwarts Daily." said Sirius.
"Ron, Remind me to kill him later." said Harry, Ron gave him a thumbs up.
"So, Harry. I guess you're feeling a little bit of hectic aren't you?" asked Sirius.
"Yeah." said Harry miserably.
"Hectic is an understatement." said Ron.
"Do you even know what hectic means?" said Draco.
"Shut up! That's what it means." Ron snapped at him.
"Oh, and you boys. I understand that you have a little bit of problems yourselves." said Sirius.
"I'm going to kill Colin." said Ron.
"Not before I do." said Neville.
"Get a number." said Draco.
"What I don't get is you two were so perfect for each other. Heck, you even fooled Remus and Dumbledore because of it. And what about the times you've kissed each other, didn't you feel anything?" asked Sirius.
"His pants did." Draco whispered to Neville who elbowed him.
"Come off it Sirius. Hermione told me to kiss her if it was necessary." said Harry.
"And I bet you wished that necessary things would happen often, do you?" said Sirius.
"Oh for God's sake. This is going to take too long! Let me tell the Flitwick version." said Draco frankly "Potter and Granger pretended to be a couple because Granger's Uncle is coming to visit. Now that's over but Potter really does have feelings for Granger. But since that hell has come upon his bloody life, Potter here wouldn't have a chance to tell that to Granger, now here's his problem, Granger's location."
"Well I would have preferred that way of explaining things, though I wouldn't recommend it to anybody," said Sirius
"Yeah, he's been a lot of help lately." said Harry.
"And a lot of pain in the ass too." said Ron.
Sirius chuckled "Well you have to know that I'm sworn to secrecy by those girls. And I'm the kind of man who will not let my word slip. All I know is their going to have some kind slepp over tomorrow night that's all I know and I would have to die rather than repeating it once more. I repeat, they're going to have a sleep over tomorrow night… four of them… Luna, Hermione, Parvati Patil and Ginny." said Sirius.
"You're weird." said Draco bluntly.
"Aren't they a little bit too old enough to have Slumber parties?" said Ron.
"They're women, what's the difference?" said Draco.
"Sleep over is a better term." said Neville.
"C'mon guys, let's go at the Quidditch field. I don't think there's anyone there right now." said Ron.
"Don't tell them I said that okay." called Sirius.
"It depends on what you said." came a voice behind Sirius
"Whahh!" screamed Sirius in surprise. He whirled around and saw Professor Smith standing behind him. "What on earth are you doing! You almost gave me a heart attack!" he yelled holding his chest.
"It is unfortunate that you didn't." another's voice came.
"Did you hear something?" Sirius asked Smith.
"No, all I can hear are birds singing. That's all I can hear, Sirius." Smith flirted as he walked towards the Transfiguration Professor.
"Oooookay? Did you want to tell me something?" asked Sirius
"Oh my, what great muscles you have." said Smith as he fondled one of Sirius's bicep with his finger.
"What? Oh these guns right here? I always keep my figure in check you know." said Sirius.
"Really, and what rough looking beard you have." said Smith now playing with Sirius's facial hair.
"Yeah, if more people would say that to me, I'd probably shave them." said Sirius.
"And you have the most piercing eyes." said Smith.
"The better to see you with Grand ma? What is this? Is this an interview of some sort, because I'm still angry at the media for saying all those things about me when I escaped Azkaban." said Sirius.
Smith laughed frantically "Oh you're such a kidder you." said Smith slapping Sirius playfully on the shoulder.
"Yeah, so… you didn't come here just to compliment on my looks, did you? Not that I'm not grateful but it would have been better coming from a smoking hot journalist." said Sirius.
Smith continued on laughing, "Stop joking you." said Smith again slapping Sirius playfully on the shoulder.
Sirius narrowed his eyes at him. Then he turned to the bushes nearby "Did you hear somebody sniggering?" asked Sirius.
Smith ignored his question "When will you stop with those jokes of yours!" laughed Smith.
Sirius took a few steps backward "Err... well, if you don't mind, I have to go. I have some work to attend to." said Sirius. And then he strode quickly as he can from Smith while muttering, "Is it me or was he hitting on me?"
Smith was left sighing by the sight of Sirius leaving. Then he was suddenly called by somebody behind the bushes near him.
"Who's hiding there?" asked Smith, and then Snape came out of the bushes with pieces of grass and dirt all over him "Severus? What are you doing there?" asked the Muggle Studies Professor.
Snape brushed the pieces of leaves on his greasy black hair "I was checking these bushes for Madam Sprout." said Snape.
"So did you hear me and Sirius talking just earlier?" asked Smith.
"Yes, I told you that he was harboring a great affection for you." said Snape.
"But he acted funny, I couldn't get a vibe from him." said Smith.
"Oh that's just his front. You can tell that he likes you by the way he tells you off. Ignore you and tell you that he's not gay and he has no mutual interest." said Snape.
"Ohhh, like, the more you hate, the more you love. Is that it?' asked Smith.
Snape raised an eyebrow "Yes, sure," said Snape, "Now what are you waiting for? Pester him." said Snape pointing at the way Sirius has gone to. Smith gladly ran off.
"You'll get yours Black, I promise." said Snape darkly
At the Quidditch Pitch where the Failure Foursome had gone to, Harry and Draco decided to go and play Quidditch by themselves. After about an hour, the two took a sit at the stands.
"You've been out of it bad, Potter. You can't even play straight." said Draco taking a sit beside Harry.
"What's the score again?" asked Harry glaring at Draco.
"You have a total score of Zero." said Draco.
"And what about you?" said Harry.
"Same score as yours?" said Draco, sounding mortified.
Harry shook his head at him.
"Well I could have bloody caught that damn Snitch one time!" yelled Draco.
"But there's one thing, you didn't." said Harry.
"Bastard." said Draco but Harry just ignored him.
"Have you seen Ron and Neville?" asked Harry.
"Do I look like a Lost and Found to you? Who gives a crap where they went off to." said Draco.
Harry just gave the good old-fashioned eye roll.
"Then again, we are talking about Longbottom and Weasley here." said Draco brushing his chin.
"Look, there they are." said Harry pointing at the two.
Ron was holding a plate full of chicken legs while Neville was carrying a tray of Butterbeers. The two reached Harry and Draco and placed their trays at the stands and sat down helping their selves with a couple of chicken legs.
"Where have you two been?" asked Harry.
"We went to the Great Hall to grab something to eat, I'm starving." said Ron.
"That's a surprise." said Draco.
"Up yours Malfoy." said Ron.
"Yeah, yeah, just hand me a Butterbeer." said Draco, Neville took one from the tray and handed it to him.
"By the way, Harry. Mum found out about you and Hermione. She sent me an Howler earlier. Poor Pigwidgeon, scared the feathers out of him." said Ron.
"What did she say in the Howler?" asked Harry.
"Oh, that you and her breaking up was the stupidest mistake you can make in your entire life." said Ron.
"She must have taken it pretty hard. Does she know about what happened between you and Parvati?" asked Harry.
"Yeah, and you know what she said? She said that it served me right. She had something say to Neville too, said that if Neville would make another tear fall down from Ginny's eyes, she's going to seek Charlie on him." said Ron.
Neville turned red "Hang on, who wrote those to your mother? I'm sure that you're not crazy enough to do that." said Neville
"You're darn right I'm not, if I wanted a death sentence then I'd dig a hole somewhere and bury myself alive." said Ron.
"So what do you guys want to do now?" asked Harry.
"We can do my plan and tell jokes about the women that are making our lives hell." said Draco.
"Good plan." said Harry.
"Sounds good." said Neville.
"So who wants to start?" asked Ron
"Let's go by the first letters of our names." suggested Draco.
"Then you go first." said Ron "Your name is the first to come up, Draco."
"No, that's just stupid. How about by the arrangement of our tables?" said Draco.
"Your still the first to go." said Harry "Slytherin comes first remember?"
Draco glared at Ron and took a bite out of his chicken leg.
"I just don't get women that's all, first they're the most understanding person you'll ever know." said Harry.
"Here, here Potter." said Draco raising his chicken in the air.
"I know what you're talking about, bro." said Neville.
"I happened to suffer an event like that with Parvati." said Ron.
"And the next thing you know their all over your neck." said Harry.
"Yeah, and you know what irritates me with Parvati? she always makes me wait for her in the common room so we can go to classes together, but it takes 15 bloody minutes for her to do whatever she does on their dorm and there's hardly any difference." said Ron.
"Parvati takes 15 minutes? I'm lucky, Ginny takes 2. She's even faster that I am." said Neville.
"What do you think they do?" asked Harry.
"It's a scam Potter, it's a lousy cruel scam." said Draco.
"How about you, Harry? What can you say about Hermione? I'm sure that you can say something better than Ron because you've been hanging out with her more than him." said Neville.
"Well you know Hermione; she's always in the library. If she's not at the library then you can find her at the common room reading the books she borrowed from the library. That makes me a little upset at her because I think she's doing nothing in her life but to study. I don't know what's going to happen to her when we graduate and she wouldn't be able to read any books here again." said Harry.
"My god, I hope she doesn't steal them." said Draco.
"And?" asked Ron.
"And... you know, she always walks away from us when she gets angry, she the most... uptight person I ever knew, the most edged, smart, clever, beautiful..." Harry was being cut off by Draco when he saw Draco's hands waving in front of him.
"Potter! You're losing the subject," said Draco "How about you Weasley, what does Parvati do to tick you off?"
"Got the whole day? Cause there's a lot of things that I hate about her, I hate the way she goes to lavender and tell stories about me and her, I hate her always smudging me whenever she gets the chance, I hate... I hate... I hate her beautiful eyes always looking right at me, I hate her smile that always greets me in the morning, I hate her, I hate her, I hate her, I love her, I love her," said Ron.
"Charming, Weasley. Longbottom?" asked Draco.
"Ginny? Now she's a real push over. She's always dragging me all over the place. She eats like a crazy person. She's like a bottomless pit when it comes to taking her out on a date. I mean, she completely decimated my allowance for the whole week." said Neville.
"Now that's what I'm talking about. Go on, Longbottom." said Draco.
"She's always bossing me around like she's the boss of me." said Neville.
"One thing, Longbottom. You're committed to her, so she has the right to boss you around." said Draco.
Neville ignored Draco "She's always ordering me around like I don't have the ability to think." said Neville.
Draco opened his mouth to leave another remark but Harry took another chicken leg and shoved it at his mouth.
"I hate her treating me like I was some slave... all though in a kinky way I kind of like it." said Neville.
"She's my sister you dirt bag!" yelled Ron.
"Oh, sorry." said Neville.
"You three are pathetic!" blurted Draco, "We came here to blow off some steam from those...those...witches! And what do you do? Say lovey dubby things about them, and it's making me sick! Potter, could you pass me another chicken?"
"No more dead animals for you. I think they make you hyper active." said Harry like he was Draco's mother.
"Well we don't hear you telling us something that you hate about Luna." said Ron.
"Yeah, and you cheated. You were suppose to go first," complained Neville.
"Okay, you want to hear something about Lovegood? Is that what you want? Here goes." said Draco, the three leaned a little closer at him to hear him better. Draco looked like he would be having a stroke at anytime "Damn it! There's nothing bad I can say about her." said Draco punching the bench he was sitting on.
"Wow, Malfoy. You're like a cartoon." said Harry.
"Damn it! I'm in love with her." said Draco placing his head on his knees while crying.
"Hasn't it hit you that you're only in love with her because of that potion you bought from Fred and George? To tell you the truth, the darn thing only last for three days." said Harry.
"So why are you still worshiping her?" asked Ron.
"I don't bloody know, all I know is she makes me feel weak and tingly inside." said Draco crying.
Harry looked disgusted. Then, he suddenly he heard Ron and Neville do the same.
"Parvati, I'm sorry! I'm sorry I'm so stupid to realize that I really am in love with you!" Ron shouted up the sky.
"Ginny (Sniff) please give me one more chance (Sniff) I'm willing to suffer anything for you (Sniff)." Neville blubbered as he wiped the tears from his eyes.
Although Harry didn't want to show it, he felt the same with the others with Hermione. He did really love her but now she wouldn't even let him see her. now Harry's heart sank even lower when he thought of losing Hermione as his best friend. He promised himself not to look at her any other way but friendship but every single nerve in his body was telling him that it was so right for him to feel the way he does for her, but his mind was always there to object. His mind is always reminding him about what consequences that can happen if he and Hermione wouldn't work out the way he pictured it, and that means losing her, a fact that he couldn't bear, even just now that she wouldn't talk to him was breaking his heart. So what will happen if he never sees her again? Only one thing entered his brain…losing his mind.
"That's enough you three! You're all grown men but you still cry like babies!" shouted Harry.
The three stopped whimpering and wiped their tears to... err... not look gay.
"Haven't it struck your brains that nothing will ever happen if we just sit right here, eat chicken, drink Butterbeers and cry over some girls that we would die for?" asked Harry.
"Another nice one, Potter (Sniff). Excuse me. I have something in my eye." said Draco turning around and trying hard to wipe those extra tears away.
"Then what would you (Sniff) suggest?" asked Ron.
"Didn't Sirius say that the girls are going to have a sleep over tomorrow night?" asked Harry.
"Yeah, Sirius sure was very careful on not telling anyone about other's secrets." said Neville sarcastically.
"Well... I think I have a plan," said Harry.
Okay, I'm really sorry if I hadn't updated for a while. I went on a little vacation for a couple of weeks. I promise that the next chapters will be updated ASAP. Thank for reading and please wait for the next chapters because I really think you'll enjoy them. Thank you.
Saki-Hime: I'll have some more Snape for you in the following chaps. Thanks.
KatieKat: I'm sorry I'm a little bit late. Please enjoy.
Proudtobeatheaterkid: Holy crap, I actually know about Potter Musical several months before you mention it. I stumbled upon it on Youtube while I was searching Harry Potter and Musical because I was bored. I was immediately impressed by Darren (I think that's the guy who's playing Harry) He's going to be in Glee. I thought Harry there was a little full of himself. Ron was a show stealer and Draco is Hilarious. I even loved them more when I saw Potter sequel. Lupin is crazy! I loved the number where Harry is singing about being home at last. (I forgot the title). In you question from the previous chap. In the movie there is a small hall right after you enter the Portrait hole, that's where they hid. Thanks for reviewing and I'll be looking forward for you next reviews.
Silvertounge Shur'tugal: LOL. That wasn't what I had in mind. I'm talking about soundtrack. I songs I can use for the Lunar Ball. It's a dance you see.
sappheiros: thanks for the awesome review. When I started this story out. My original idea is for love triangle. But when I wrote Luna in the fist draft, I just couldn't resist. It them evolved to this story instead. Even thought you're a Draco/Hermione fan, thanks for giving this story a chance. From the start I know that I'm going to write in the entire Weasley family because I love them so much. Bill's perfect, Charlie's the jock, Percy's the nerd, Fed and George are he jokesters, Ron is the moron and Ginny is the Tomboy (That's how I picture them). The Dream issue is the one most asked about. I won't give anything away. All I'm saying is you'll find out in the sequel.
faithlace: Hey, thanks for checking this up. I'm flattered that you read the first time I oput this out. What do you think of the changes I made?