Operation: Ask Her Out!
It had been at least a week since that whole magical incident, and our "special" Prussian friend still had a task of his own to complete. However, he required an assistance of the special kind...the Bad Touch Trio kind.
Francis and Antonio were conversing with each other during their Divination class. It was quiet and it was peaceful...until Gilbert came over and slammed his hands down on the table in front of the pair, startling them both.
"Men," Gilbert said confidently, "Ve have a mission!"
"What is it, amigo?" Antonio asked curiously.
"You seem pretty 'yper, mon ami," added Francis.
"I am not!" Gilbert exclaimed, "I made a deal vith Vest und I need your help to achieve it!"
"What iz ze deal?"
"I need to ask a certain girl to zhat ball zhing."
"Which girl?" asked Antonio cautiously. Gilbert briefly looked around the room before he leaned in and whispered a name to both Francis and Antonio. His friends looked at him in surprise.
"It is impossible," the Spanish and French teens said together in unison.
"Vow," Gilbert said sarcastically, "You two have no faith in me at all!"
"It can not be done, mon ami!" Francis said, "You would 'ave to get 'er alone, which rarely ever 'appens!"
"Zhat's vhere you two come in." Gilbert put a hand on each of his friends' shoulders. Antonio and Francis glanced briefly at each other in scepticism. "Come on! Ve are zhe Bad Touch Trio! Ve can do anyzhing! So, vhat do you say?" Gilbert extended his hand out in front of them. Antonio shrugged.
"Si," he said, "Why not? It sounds like a good challenge." Antonio put his hand on top of Gilbert's. They both looked over at Francis, who sighed.
"I don't know about zis..." he said warily, "but oui." He put his hand on top of Antonio's and Gilbert's, sealing the pact made by the three.
"Yes!" Gilbert cheered as the boys dropped hands. Francis leaned onto the table.
"What iz ze plan?" The Prussian smirked
"Vhen's zhe next Hogsmeade veekend?"
"This Saturday," Antonio answered after he counted off on his fingers.
"Ve start zhere, zhen. She's usually alone and vulnerable, right?"
"She's surrounded by the other chicas..."
"Like...?"
"'Er friends, which includes ze one who will smash our 'eads in!" Francis said. Gilbert put a hand on his forehead, exactly where Elizabeta had hit him a week ago and winced.
"I understand zhat, but I need to know zhe group exactly, because one of zhem could be on mein side."
"Rosaria Vargas, Michelle Bonnefoy, Katyusha Braginskaya, Elizabeta 'Éderváry and Emma de Viers," Gilbert nodded.
"Good. At least I know one person in zhat group vill be on my side!"
"So..." Antonio said once they had finished up their planning, "Plan A?" Francis nodded.
"Plan A," he confirmed.
Before the three seventh years knew it, Saturday came by quicker than expected. The Bad Touch Trio had decided to put their plan into action around noon. The three boys were making their way to the Three Broomsticks as Antonio hummed the 'Mission Impossible' theme loud enough for passersby to hear.
"Why are you 'umming zhat?" Francis asked in a slightly harsh whisper. Antonio shrugged.
"It fits the mood," he whispered back.
The BTT eventually made it to the pub. However, the group of girls had already beat them there. Their positions were as follows; Rosaria was over talking with Vladimir and Aleksander with Elizabeta behind her, trying her best not to bludgeon the Romanian with her infamous skillet. Michelle and Katyusha were over at the counter getting drinks for everyone. Finally, Emma and Lili sat at a table conversing with each other. The boys slid into a table nearby so they could see their every action prefectly. Then, Plan A was put into action.
"Toni?" Gilbert whispered to the Spaniard, who immediately perked up upon hearing his name.
"Si?" He answered back in another whisper.
"Do you zhink you can distract-" Gilbert pointed to Emma. Grinning, Antonio nodded and got up from the table. Francis slid closer to Gilbert to discuss the rest of the plan.
"Now, what are you going to do when she iz distracted?" French asked Prussian.
"I go in for zhe kill!" Gilbert said, putting his fist into the palm of his hand to make his point, "Zhen little bruder has no choice but to embrass himself. Kesesese..." Francis inched away from Gilbert a bit. Silence grew between the two. "So...any luck vith Arthur?" Francis sighed and leaned his head back.
"Non. 'E will not except my love," Francis repiled with a slight pout. Gilbert put a hand on Francis's shoulder.
"Hang in zhere, buddy."
"Once you get Lili, can 'e be our next target?"
"...Yes." The pair laughed quietly before glancing back at Antonio's progress. They saw Emma nodding towards Antonio and the Belgian and Spaniard began to walk out. Before they left, Antonio shot a wink towards Francis and Gilbert. The Prussian grinned with anticipation.
"Now I vill go in for the kill." He said as he got up from the table and walked over to Lili. She looked up from what she was doing as he got closer. Lili smiled.
"Hello Gilbert," the Liechtensteinian girl greeted, "Can I help you at all?"
"Hallo, Lili," Gilbert said, smiling back. "I need to ask you something important."
"Yes?"
"Vell...you know how zhe ball is coming up right?" Lili nodded. Gilbert swallowed whatever unawesome feelings that were tell him to back out of this before something bad happened and opened his mouth to ask her, but Elizabeta and Rosaria return from their conversation before he could. Elizabeta looked a little pissed off, while her younger companion looked slightly upset.
"Vhat are you doing here?" Elizabeta asked, anger lacing her Hungarian accent.
"I..uh..." Gilbert looked to his fellow Axis member for help and she silently gestured over to Vladimir, who wa hold his head back as Aleksander held something to his face. In his mind, the Prussian shuddered. "Vell... I can over her to ask Lilli something..."
"Vell?" Elizabeta said as she twirled her dented frying pan in her hands
"Vell vhat...?" Gilbert laughed nervously. Elizabeta pointed to Lili.
"Ask her."
"It uh...completely slipped my mind..." Both Rosaria and Francis facepalmed themselves from their places. Francis then sighed and got up to save Gilbert's sorry ass. He walked over confidently over to the four and wrapped an arm around Gilbert.
"Gilbert!" The French said quickly, "I just remembered zat you and I 'ave a previous engagement! Au revoir, ladies!" The two Bad Touch Trio members fled the buliding, leaving two confused girls in their wake.
Plan A=FAIL
The next day the group sat at the Slytherin Table in the Great Hall, where all the students were because it was too cold out to do anything else. Francis was finishing up telling the Spaniard what had happened yesterday.
"So...if Elizabeta didn't hit you with her frying pan..." Antonio said confused, "than how did you get the black eye?" Gilbert put a finger to the slight purpleish tone around his right eye.
"Vell...as Francis dragged mien pazhetic, unawesome ass out of zhere..." Gilbert said as he glared over at Francis, "he dragged me right into a pole!"
"I said I was sorry!" Francis counteracted. "And ze nurse said your face will heal by tomorrow!" Gilbert smacked Francis upside the head.
"Ve failed!" He said, slightly upset, "Zhat vent absolutely horrible!"
"Not for me," Antonio said with a grin. The other two raised an eyebrow.
"What do you mean mon ami?" asked Francis.
"Well...I took Emma over to Honeyduke's, like we always do. I gave Emma her favorite sweet with a question written on it-" Antonio smiled- "She said yes." Francis blinked his blue eyes lazily.
"Is zat why your hiding from Tim?" Antonio looked over at a person sitting farther down at the Slytherin table. The intimidating Dutch teenager in his year was luckily a good distance away. Tim de Viers did not exactly like the Spaniard...in fact he hated him.
"Si," Antonio said with a quick nod. Francis put his face into the palms of his hands before looking at his friends.
"Why are you people going after the girls with overprotective older brozers?" He asked.
"Because ve're idiots. Handsome und awesome idiots, but ve're still idiots," Gilbert answered, "Anyvay, ve need a Plan B!"
"Plan B!" repeated Antonio with a smile.
"What iz Plan B?" Francis asked
"...I don't know!" Gilbert said after a pause of silence. The group thought quietly for a moment as the gears in their minds began turning. It was a while before Antonio came up with an idra.
"We could corner her in the halls between her classes," he suggested, "Do it gentleman like. I've seen Arthur do it before and works muy bien." This was the idea they all came to agree on.
"Gilbert," Francis said, "Do you know ze 'Ufflepuff fourth years' schedule?"
"Nein," the Slytherin said, shaking his head.
"I do!" said Antonio cheerfully.
"How zhe hell do you know zhat?"
"Because I was one...?"
"I zhought zhey changed every year." Antonio paused for a moment before slamming his head on the table. Francis looked around the room. His eyes landed over on a group of students at the Gryffindor table.
"I know!" He said with enthusiasm. Confused, the other two Bad Touch members followed Francis, who made a beeline straight towards the Baltics, three students in sepreate years who came from the nations bordering the Baltic Sea, thus earning them the nickname. The members were Toris, Eduard and a Hufflepuff by the name of Raivis Galante, who noticed the boys approaching and quickly hid behind his older companions.
"You zree!" Francis called out, "Right zere!" The Baltics all jumped as the Bad Touch Trio approached.
"Vhat are ve doing?" Gilbert asked in a whisper.
"Shh."
"Y-Yes?" The Ravenclaw stuttered.
"I 'eard zat one of you iz from 'Ufflepuff, correct?"
"Yes...Me.." Raivis said as Toris brought him to the front.
"Do you 'ave any classes with Lili Zwingli?"
"Yes... she's in all of them actually." Antonio grinned as he realized what Francis was up to.
"Francis, you blonde French genius!" He said in a loud whisper.
"I need a list of zem," said the blonde French genius.
"Um...Why..?" Raivis stuttered.
"I'll make it worth ze while."
"What do you mean?" Francis leaned forward until he was down to Raivis' s height and whispered something in the Latvian's ear.
"What?" Eduard asked curiously.
"F-fine..." stuttered Raivis once more.
"What is it?" asked Toris, as equally interested as the Estonian. Raivis ignored the two as he quickly wrote down his class list and gave it to the Slytherin
"Merci!" Francis said happily as he and the others walked away. Francis handed the list to Gilbert, who smiled.
"I have to admit to my curiosity, mi amigo," said Antonio as soon as they were out of an earshot. "What did you tell him?"
"Zat I could get Ivan to leave zem alone," the French answered with a simple shrug.
"Und how vould you do zhat?" Gilbert said as he folded up the parchment and slid it in his pocket.
"I'm an Ally!" Francis said as if it was obvious, "Zat and a few galleons 'ere, some 'elp from Kiku...and zere." He snapped his fingers to make his point.
"Huh," Antonio said in surpise, "I didn't know it was that easy!"
"It izn't. I make it look easy."
Two days later, the boys were ready to put their plan into effect. Gilbert and Antonio had met up at one of the corridors their target was sure to cross. Gilbert was taking another look at his list when Antonio raised his hand.
"Can we go over the plan one more time?" He asked.
"Ja, but first," Gilbert said looking up from his list, "VHERE IS FRANCEY-PANTS?!" As if on cue, Francis walked over to the two. There was blood leaking out from his bottom lip.
"Vhere vere you?!" The Prussian asked angrily.
"I was getting my love rejected with an Advanced Potions book," Francis said, wiping the blood off his mouth with his fingers. Antonio patted his friend's shoulder.
"Don't worry," the Spaniard said, "You'll get him eventually." Francis gave off a smile at Antonio's encouragement. "Now tell me the plan again."
"According to zhis-" Gilbert said as he held up list- "Lili should be coming down zhis hall from her Charms class. You two vill valk down und see if she is alone. If she is, zhe signal vill be given by Francis. If she isn't, Toni gives zhe signal. I'll take care if zhe rest."
"What is the signal?"
"I don't know, just drop your vand or somezhing." Both the Spanish and French teenagers nodded their heads. "Good. Now go!" He pushed the two out into the hallway, with Antonio on the left and Francis to the right, and got back into position as they walked down in order to be unseen. Gilbert soon heard the clatter of wood hitting stone coming from the right side of the hall.
'Alright, I am awesome!' Gilbert thought to himself, 'I can do zhis. I can make Vest eat his vords. Heh heh.' The Prussian smirked at that last thought.
Lili soon walked past and Gilbert jogged up to her so that the two were walking side-by-side
"Hey Lili!" Gilbert said with a smile.
"Oh, Hello Gilbert," Lili replied, "Vhat can I do for you?"
"I vas just vondering if you needed any help getting to your next class!"
'Zhat is zhe stupidest zhing I've ever said to a girl...'
"No, but it vould be nice to valk vith someone." The blonde Hufflepuff smiled back.
"Great!"
'I can't believe zhat vorked!' The Prussian thought as he and the other Germanic walked together, 'I have to hand to zhat Brit! Zhis really does vork!"
"Oh, did you ever remember vhat you vanted to ask me Saturday?" asked Lili. Gilbert snapped out of his thoughts and blinked his red eyes as he processed what had been asked.
"Was? Oh! Ja! I did!" He said with a snap of his fingers, "Lili, I vant to know if-" Unfortunately, the sound of footsteps slamming against the stone floor cut Gilbert off. He cleared his throat and continued. "If you vould like to-" A person sprinted up from behind the pair. It was Mei Xiao, a fourth year Taiwanese girl in Gryffindor.
"Oh, Hi Mei!" Lili greeted politely.
"Lili!" Mei said as soon as she regained her breath, "Your brother's looking for you." Lili nodded.
"Okay. I'll see you later, Gilbert!" The two girls ran off down the opposite end of the corridor as Gilbert marked Plan B a complete and utter failure.
"Does zhe vorld hate me?" The albino asked himself as he leaned against the wall, "People just come up at zhe BEST times!" Francis and Antonio then ran up to their friend, panting slightly.
"We are sorry mon ami!" said Francis apologetically, "She said zat Basch wanted to talk to his sœur. He seems pretty angry about somezing if Mei ran all ze way 'ere from Gryffindor Tower!"
"Sì," added Antonio, "but, like I said, what would he be angry about?" The trio stood there in silence until the answer came to them.
"You don't zhink he found out about our mission, do you?" asked Gilbert cautiously.
"Non," Francis said, shaking his head, "'Ow could 'e? We kept away from ze Gryffindors as much as possible!"
"No!" Antonio said, "We were at the Gryffindor table on Sunday. Basch must have overheard us talking to the Baltics!" A chill ran down Gilbert's spine. Basch Zwingli was Lili's older Swiss brother, who was a seventh year in Gryffindor. He was a prodigy with a Muggle gun, as well as being as overprotective as Lovino towards his sister. Gilbert was screwed. He shook any bad thoughts out of his head before continuing.
"It doesn't matter!" He exclaimed with a sudden burst of confidence, "Ve just need to keep avay from Basch at all costs. Meet me in zhe Room tomorrow. Plan C is our last hope." The remaining Bad Touch Trio nodded and replied with a "Si" and an "Oui".
Plan C was their last and final chance to get it right.
Gilbert was absolutely frustrated by now. He had locked himself in the Room of Requirement for nearly the entire day. Right now, he was pacing across the room, really wishing a beer would appear in his hands right now. The door opened and Antonio came in, dragging a distraught Francis behind him.
"Plan C?" Gilbert asked as he ran a pale hand through his silver hair.
"Non," droned Francis, "Arzur rejected moi again."
"That is because you are doing it without our help, amigo," Antonio said as he dropped Francis into a nearby chair so that he was facing away from his friends.
"Francis," Gilbert said as he leaned over the chair, "It's your turn to give in to zhe plan."
"Alright..." the French boy sighed. He waved his hand in the air in a weird circular motion before dropping it down. "I am too depressed to zink of anyzing." Both Antonio and Gilbert sweatdropped.
"I svear to Gott I vill slap you if you continue to be so depressing. Arthur vill take you sooner or later."
"Alright..." Francis flipped around in the chair to face them.
"Why not just ask her directly?" Antonio suggested, "Even if there are people."
"I can't," said Gilbert, "Basch vould kill me if I do und I am too awesome to die."
"Then we make sure that he isn't there."
"But Antonio does 'ave a point. You need to ask 'er," added Francis, "No distractions."
"Fine..." Gilbert said with a groan. "But you two have to help me."
"What do you need us to do?" said Antonio excitedly. Gilbert leaned in and whispered his plan to his fellow BTT.
"Mind if I use zat plan?" Francis said with a grin.
"No. Ve begin tomorrow, right after school," the Prussian said with another grin.
One final chance. This was for all the playing cards, all the marbles and a bunch of other clichéd references. It was now or never.
Lili was walking down the hallway with a smile on her face, looking adorable as always. She was humming her version of Marukaite Chikyuu, a song that a few students had their own version of (although Feliciano's is the original,) in German to no one in particular.
"Zhere she is..." Gilbert said from one of the side halls, where he, Francis and Antonio were waiting.
"You go get ready," Francis said. He took Gilbert by the ahoulders and spun him around so he was facing the of end of the hall. "We'll keep 'er busy." Gilbert nodded and ran off on the opposite direction.
As the ablino did this, Antonio and Francis nodded to each other. They causally walked out from their place and right in front of the Germanic girl, Hitachiin twin style.
"Bonjour, ma cherie," said Francis sweetly.
"Hola, chica!" Antonio said with a smile.
"Hallo, you two," Lili replied.
"How are you doing?"
"I'm fine, danke." The small blonde tried to maneuver past them, but Antonio and Francis blocked her path. "Is there somethimg you two need?"
"Si," Antonio said with a nod.
"What is it?"
"Can't tell you~" Francis said, grinning and putting a finger to his lips.
"Vhy is that?"
"Secret, chica~" said Antonio as he copied Francis.
"Okay then," Lili sighed as she tried to walk around them once again, only to be stopped by the pair once more. "Please let me pass."
"Non," Francis answered, shaking his head.
"Elizabeta and Katyusha are vaiting for me...please?"
"No," Francis and Antonio replied in unison.
"Zhen can you please tell my vhy?"
"You shall learn in a minute or two," Francis reassured tilted her head slightly in a confused manner as Antonio leaned towards Francis.
"Amigo, how much longer will he be?" He asked in a hushed tone, "We can't stall her forever!:
"'E should appear in 3...2...1..." counted Francis. The two waited in anticipation, until they realized nothing was going to happen. Francis exclaimed something loudly and rapidly in French that I am forbidden to say.
"Can I please go?" asked Lili sweetly, "My friends are vaiting for me..." Francis and Antonio looked at each other. They couldn't let Gilbert down and this was their final chance. That's when an idea popped into Antonio's head.
"We'll take you to them!" The Spanish Hufflepuff said, "It's really not a good idea to be walking around alone during these times." Francis looked over at him, confused as hell as to what he was doing. Antonio winked towards the French, who finally began to understand what he was getting at.
"Oui!" added Francis, "Just follow us!"
"Danke," the Liechtensteinian girl answered. Antonio and Francis led her through the corridors.
"Gilbert better 'urry," whispered Francis.
"He better," whispered Antonio back, "Hopefully nothing goes wrong this time."
"What are you two saying?" Lili asked curiously.
"Nothing!"
The duo finally led Lili to their destination- the Muggle Studies classroom.
"Gil is goin to miss his chance..." Antonio muttered.
"'Opefully 'e is ready," replied Francis before he turned to Lili. "Right zrough here, cherie."
"Thank you fpr your help," Lili said kindly.
"No problem!" said Antonio with a laugh. Francis went to open the door, but a loud crash echoed from inside, causing him to stop. Everyone cringed at the noise. Catiously, Antonio reached for the door and flung open it.
Standing there was Gilbert. Noticing the three enter, he kicked something behind his back and behind a desk, laughing awkwardly as he did so.
"Gilbert?" Lili said in surprise.
"Yeah. It's me," The Prussian said as he laughed awkwardly again.
"Should we leave?" Francis whispered to Antonio as they stood in the doorway.
"No...I want to see how this turns out," answered the Spaniard. Gilbert cleared his throat and gathered all pf his courage.
"Lili," he said as sincerely as he could, "I've been trying to ask you somezhing und now I can finally do it vithout being interuppted."
"Vhat is it?" asked the girl.
"Lili, vill you go to zhe Yule Ball...vith someone like me?"
The entire Bad Touch Trio held their breath waiting for Lili's answer.
"Vhy didn't you say so?" Lili said after a long pause, "My answer is yes, Gilbert Beilschmidt. I vould love to go vith you." From the background Francis and Antonio celebrated victory silently "Pardon my sudden exit, but I need to go meet up with Eliza and Kat, but I'll talk to you later okay?" She gave a beautiful genuine smile and walked out of the classroom.
Gilbert stood there in complete shock and silence for a moment before he and the rest of the Bad Touch Trio cheered in victory.
"We finally did it, mes amis!" exclaimed Francis happily, "Can we get started on mon piete lapin?"
"Wait uno momento," Antonio said, causing the small celebration to cease, "Gilbert, you said a deal motivated you to do this. Can you clarify on what the deal exactly was?"
"Oui! You never did tell us exactly!"
"It vas...uh..." Gilbert sighed as he remembered what had happened a good few days ago, "...I mocked Vest's bravery so ve made a deal. If I could get enough courage ask Lili, zhen he vould have to ask a certain person."
"Who iz it?!"
"Kesesese, no one."
"You're no fun!"
"Calm down, Francey-pants. If Vest mans up, you'll find out."
Yay~ Yule Ball stuff.
I'm confused Kitten, what was the deal?
You really need to re-read the end of the last chapter. Speaking of which, there is only one chapter between here and the Yule Ball. As you can see, Angel and I have discussed over some of the pairings and have chosen a few. Angel?
FrUK, PruLiech (Kitten won. We debated a lot about some of these and took some advice from a coin), SpaBel, AmeViet, JapWan (Or I think that's it. Neither of us know the actual ship name,) and that are all the pairings that have be confirmed by the story so far.
Yup, and I think we made some fangirls angry.
Yes, yes we did.
It will all happen in the next chapter.
What will?
THE POWER OF L-O-V-E. THE STRONGEST MAGIC IN THE HARRY POTTER UNIVERSE!
...
Next Time on Hogwarts from Around the World!
I Can't Dance!
We'll see you then!