Chapter four: two minutes and twenty three seconds to go…

Previously:

But perhaps it was even more mad that they thought they could do it all in 3 minutes.

And it was at this precise moment that Harry's brain kicked into overdrive, or as he liked to think of it "spy-mode".

Whenever he used this term he found himself up against a great deal of opposition from his two best friends.

Hermione thought he was being ridiculous as he wasn't a spy and said that even if he was, if he used this mode of his brain operations he would probably end up dead. She liked to call it "the-state-in-which-harry-comes-up-with-ridiculous-and-improbable-plans-that-endanger-everyone-but-himself-or-turn-out-to-be-just-plain-silly." She was, however, working on a more condensed name, and an acronym, but had yet to decide on one.

Ron however, just gave him blank looks until Hermione explained what a spy was, its significance and mystic in the muggle world, and he then would continue to bother Harry with arguments and questions about why it wasn't called "auror-mode", because, after all "we are wizards you know."

So, poor Harry and his mind were all alone for support. But this time it was different. This time the plan was to try and get Draco Malfoy and Lavender Brown married in two minutes. And this time Hermione was under love potion. And Ron was off with Pansy Parkinson. Perhaps Harry's brain would truly have its chance to make its mark on the world.

He swiftly turned around to everyone in the potions room.

'Right' he started to speak to Hermione, Lavender and Draco, 'ok, to do this we're going to have to be quick and fast, so' he grabbed Hermione's hand and pulled her towards the exit, 'come on! We haven't got a minute to loose!'

And they all started running, out of the room, down the corridor, following Harry as he led them towards the entrance to Honeydukes behind the one-eyed witch. And as they Ran, they made plans.

'So,' Harry started again, 'by my reckoning, from the potions room to the statue it might take us 30 seconds if we push it…'

'But that's up two flights of stairs!' lavender called back, her voice strained as she tried to breath and run at the same time. 'I know you two guys do Quidditch all the time… but I don't'

'And neither do I! There is no way I can keep this up' Hermione panted.

'But wait!' Hermione stopped suddenly, and face palmed violently as she exclaimed, to apparently no one 'why didn't I think of this before?'

Draco gave her a weird look, whilst Harry made to hurry her along to get her running again. But Hermione just smiled at them, muttered something over them all and promptly sprinted ahead, leaving three startled faces in her wake.

They all just looked after her –somewhat blankly before to catch up with her at which point they all seemed to notice that the running seemed to take no effort at all and seemed kind of…fast… which made Lavender suddenly laugh.

'Of course!' she cried out in elation and wonderment, 'you've cast one of those speed charms professor Flitwick was talking about! Good work Hermione… good work.'

The other girl just smiled back at her as they reached the one-eyed witch.

'So,' Draco checked his watch, we've got about 2 minutes and 37 seconds to get married… so now what do we do about making that happen?'

Harry smiled satisfactorily as he turned to the others –he was confident he would be the hero –but more importantly that he would prove Hermione wrong about his "spy-mode" brain.

'Ok, so, you and Hermione will apparate us out to Hogsmead, where we can quickly get some rings from Gladrags-' Harry began.

'Actually,' Draco cut in, 'I already have two rings'

'What?' Harry and Hermione exclaimed in perfect unison

'And since when do Gladrags sell rings?' Lavender looked at Harry curiously 'didn't you realise its were a clothing store?'

Harry sighed out of exasperation as he answered 'Of course I know it's a clothing store-'

'But then why did you suggest we should get rings from there?'

Draco scoffed as he draped his arm casually around Lavender 'as if I would ever get a ring from there' he reassured her.

She looked up at him doe-eyed 'but they don't have rings there!'

'Will you all just be quiet!' Hermione cried out in a vain act of desperation to grasp everyone's attention. And Grasp everyone one's attention she did.

Including the attention of the two people hidden in a dark nook, which the four had incidentally failed to notice until now. And surprisingly enough it wasn't Ron and Pansy.

A/N: well I hope you all enjoyed this chapter! Do let me know :) (once again, if you did/didn't, or just anything, really)

And also, I am incredibly sorry for this, but I probably won't be able to add any more chapter's till after my VCE exams are over… because I really should study for them… so please bear with me :)

And many thanks to those wonderful people who review/comment –it gives me such encouragement for the chapters, and it's really great to know what you guys are thinking about the story so far :D so many, many thanks to… XedwardismyromeoX, Proffessor Albus Martin, dbzgtfan2004, Gandalf the Grey-Edelwiess, dennisud, xXMizLilyEvansXx, Mikeo6464, Lily Witchcraft and ginnylovesharry07