AN: Last chapter I'm doing for a while, PLEASE R&R

Picking and Choosing (Tales of Hogwarts Romance) Chapter 10

(AN: For those of you who had started this story at another point in time you'll be pleased to know that this chapter is leading into an entirely new part of the plot, R&R –Richard S.)

"So," Harry began as the two sat down to eat. "What'd it take for him to let me off the hook?" Illy smiled and shrugged before taking a nibble of a hot role, and sipping her pumpkin juice.

"Not much really, I mean I just explained that it was my bad, and that I should've told you to wait until after class to look over the note." Harry looked at her questioningly but began to stuff his mouth full of roast beef sandwich, drenched in aju. She sniggered at his manners before turning to my left to speak with Ron.

"So, have enough beauty rest now Strawberries?" She asked him as she traded off her tall glass of pumpkin juice for a small teacup of earl gray with lemon.

"How in the bloody hell do you know about that? Did Fred and George tell you? Uggghhh they did! Those two can't leave me be for a moment can they…" Ron began to mumble curses under his breath.

"Ronald, you really shouldn't use such fowl language, it's simply not becoming of a young man." Hermione scolded him.

"But Herm, they ruin everything!" He complained to her.

"It's not as if they told a girl you fancy, it's just Killious." She sighed and turned away from her book to try and keep his mood from changing, but her small smile of encourage turned to a frown as Ron's face turned red again. "…you don't fancy her….do you Ron?" She asked, seeming broken. He looked at her puppy dog eyes and decided to use his brain, a rare thing for him.

"No! Of course not, she's like a sister to us, I mean look at Fred and George, we're all like one…big family." Ron said, defeat in his voice, but a hint of satisfaction overcoming it, as Hermione's face lit up once again.

"Illy, I just don't understand how you can do it." Hermione began, looking over to Illy who was across the table with her legs cross, and her hair now undone, gently waving around her waste, filling the air with a smell of pomegranate, cloves, cinnamon, and fresh water, the center of her hair was still damp from not being given time to dry in the morning, and the scent was spreading throughout the area.

"What do you mean?" She asked in a monotone voice as she tossed aside her roll and sipped her tea.

"Look at you! You just throw on sneakers and your uniform and every boy in the school is drooling, even Draco can't stop staring!" She proclaimed as she slipped the rubber band off Illy's wrist and used it to pull her own hair back.

"Trust me, you don't want to be me, I've got enough Draco problems for the whole lot of you, and me talking with you is probably making it worse." she said, glancing at the twins who had just come in to the hall laughing uncontrollably. "What the hell did you two pull without me?" she asked them as they took their seats in front of her.

"We helped you get Draco back." They chimed in unison.

"And how exactly did you do that?"

"We swapped out every one of his toiletries, shampoo is dye, conditioner makes his hair fall out, soap's got itching powder, face scrub makes his skin change shades of red and gold for a nice team spirit twist, and his towel causes spontaneous hair growth on contact!" The twins burst into laughter again. Illy laughed along with Fred and George as each of them told their own version of what the scene would be like, becoming more and more hysterical as each story was told. Harry's turn came around and while at first he seemed shocked that any one had asked his thoughts he was quick to join in on the game. Just as we all left to move towards History of Magic Illy caught a glimpse of the very upset looking Jackquinne heading away from the Slytherine table at an alarming rate, Clause ran after him but just before he reached him a large group of Raven claw girls began to crowd him.

"…and just as he thinks life can't get worse Pomfry will tell him that she has nothing that can cure the excess hair!" Harry finished and Illy chuckled along, though his story was a bit unimaginative compared to Ron's, in which Draco became a refuge that lived in the sewers of Hogwarts covered in hair, and showing up only to cheer on the Slytherine games with his face gleaming of Gryffindor colors. She began to head off in Jackquinne's direction but Harry grabbed her arm, "Let me walk you to class." He offered. She looked at him oddly and then she noticed that the whole group had stopped moving and looked at me Fred and George looked like they still wanted to talk to her, but she wasn't quite ready to announce hat she was an inadvertent sadomasochist,

"Erm…sure. Thanks Harry." She smiled back at him.

One week zoomed by, with tests, quizzes, and mountains of homework. Draco still wouldn't talk to her, but he did give her looks like he really wished that he could break his own rules on occasion, even though his toiletries had caused quite a bit of chaos. Jackquinn's bed had been vacated all together, and he had been moved to a private area of the dorm for no apparent reason, but Snape had organized the sleeping arrangements so they were official. Study groups moved to his room on occasion, which was more or less a ten foot by six foot box with a bed, trunk, old carpet, and adjacent bathroom, and while the decorum was oddly feminine in some aspects, like the plethora of pictures with his muggle mother and aunt hung around the room in artistic collages and the always made bed with throw pillows, it was a good enough place for study groups when Illy drug her kotatsu along. Harry, Ron, and Hermione had been spending more and more time with her and had decided to meet me her for a chess tournament that was to be held in Professor Flitwick's room, students had been told to bring their own chess sets, seating and tables if they wished, and food. Harry had asked, as his cheeks flashed rose tints, if she would come as his partner, being that whichever team got the mist wins as a whole won. She had agreed reluctantly, but Harry was blissfully unaware of the obligatory connotation in her voice as he locked her in a tight hug and spent the rest of the day latched on to her hand. The night before Harry had snuck to the kitchens to grab an ample supply of pastries, fruits, and had saved some of his blossoming bon-bon's from a specialty chocolate shop called "La Chocolat" in Daigon alley. He had been making a habit recently of walking her to classes, asking her to sit with him for meals, coming to extra study groups, increasingly insisting that she help him with astronomy homework, and even walking her back to her dorm at night.

Harry smiled at her as he, Ron, Hermione, Dolan, and she all walked towards the Slytherine dorm together.

"Do you really need to change your clothes just to go to the chess competition? I mean really, it's just going to a bunch of nerds sitting around playing games, whose there that you feel the need to impress? Neville Longbottom!" Ron complained as the group all came upon the stairs down to the dungeon.

"Yes I do, I had herbology today and leaving animal secretions on my clothing long enough to eat dinner was one thing, but I draw my line."

"And besides" Hermione said, huffing at Ron "It's not just a bunch of nerds, you're my partner aren't you?" Ron sighed and threw his hands in the air.

"It's not as thought I was begging for the position or anything." He replied, with that the two began to fight, and headed back towards their own dorms to change.

"Kill me Harry, I mean it, just let me end my life now!" Ron yelled over his shoulder, Harry just smiled and gave him an imploring look that he was sure Illy hadn't caught.

"Alright, well we've got to get going, so we'll see you at the meeting." She said, giving Harry a little peck on the cheek as she descended the stairs with Dolan, who was entering with Trina, a slender sandy blond third year with thin rimmed glasses and blue eyes. They had been casually dating for a week or so, but Dolan personally seemed interested in little other than her standing as one of the less promiscuous Slytherin's.

"Do you have any idea what's wrong with Jackquinne?" Illy asked Dolan before he got a chance to ask her about Harry,

"No, I'm worried about him, he won't talk to me about it…He just looks so sad lately."

"I think that Clause really upset him. I saw Jacky run out of the great hall the other day and Clause tried to run after him but was otherwise detained." She could tell Dolan was becoming uncomfortable with the smallest mention of Jackquinn's name along side of Clause's.

"And then they just stopped having study groups with me, we've done our homework together every Tuesday, Friday, and Sunday since school started, and now, nothing…" Dolan looked like he was going to explode if he didn't speak soon, but he was determined to keep what ever it was he wasn't telling me a secret.

"They were best friends and what? Now they just don't talk what did Clause do?"

"I'm not sure, but if he hurt him I'm going to kick the fuck right out of his smutty arse!"

"Ok, passionate about this a little Dolan?" Illy laughed at his reaction and put an arm around him. "Don't worry too much, it just looked like a little fight, I'm sure that they'll make up soon enough, besides I heard that they're entering the tournament tonight…jeeze I feel like such a looser right now!" She exclaimed as they reached the door.

"Not a looser, just a dork, now go get sexy for Neville" He jeered as he slapped her on the butt and shoved her in the direction of the girls rooms. He waved her off and turned around, into Draco's ice cold stare.

"Calm down mate, we're all friends here, it was just a joke." He explained, hoping to breeze over the worst of the conflict.

"You know she's mine." Draco sneered.

"She is not. She doesn't belong to anyone, she's not an object, and even if she was you're the last person whose possession she would be in. Fuck, she'd pick Harry long before you at this point."

"Shut the hell up! That's a pack of bloody lies and you know it!" Draco hurled back. Dolan stopped at the foot of the stairs and turned around to face Draco, his face placid and wise as he spoke,

"Draco, you practically raped her…for someone who seems to care about her so much you have a funny way of showing it. Harry does what a boyfriend should, he walks her to class, he carries her books, for Merlin sake the boy does internal summersaults every time she holds his hand or gives him a hug. If you want her….act like it! Everyone knows that she probably cares about you more than your own mother does, fuck she's the only human who cares about you more than you care about yourself, and she sure as hell cares more about you than you do her, that's what scares her. Look at her, there's something missing there, she's got attachment disorders, she doesn't sleep, she doesn't eat, she studies like crazy and uses books as a form of escapism, her parents treat her like they don't even know who she is, they haven't sent a single letter, Snape has some form of love for the poor girl, she's sadomasochistic I can tell that from just watching her play quiditch, and she wakes up in the middle of the night screaming, but she can't remember why, meaning she has recurring night terrors, and to top the whole thing off she remains totally un-phased by any mention of pain, death, or even the dark lord. This girl is being protected, and she's protecting herself, she broken and you praying on her worst fears isn't going to fix her." Dolan finished his hushed speech and began walking up the stairs; Draco called out hollowly after him,

"You're wrong you know… she's not broken she's perfect… and there's no way she cares more than I do." Draco's voice faded to a whisper after the first few words, and if Dolan heard, he certainly wasn't acting like it.